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Smoldering fireplace embers spark two-alarm fire in the South End
By adamg on Wed, 02/04/2015 - 9:10am
Firefighters attack the fire. Photo by Neuroboy.
The Boston Fire Department reports embers from a fireplace ignited wooden beams at 25 Worcester Square this morning, sparking a fire that caused an estimated $500,000 in damage.
Firefighters responded around 8:52 a.m. and found fire on both the fifth and fourth floors. The cause was traced to a fifth-floor fireplace:
There was no fire in the fireplace at the time of the fire. Smoldering embers over time under the hearth of the fireplace.
One firefighter was taken to a local hospital with a cut finger. No residents were injured.
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Comments
Lady Edith?
firefighter PSA
Allow me to add a little PSA in here. . . here's what the firefighter we were talking to said. . . over time, the beams under the hearth of a fireplace get old and dry (and rotten) from the years of heat, and, if the hearth isn't renovated ocassionally, the mortar can deteriorate. At that point, all it takes is an ember or two to get down there to catch the beam on fire. The fire then runs through the floor and walls and the smoke doesn't even show up in the apartment until it comes through a light fixture or some break in the wall. He said it happens 5-6 times a winter in these old buildings that have no fireproofing between the bricks in the fireplace and the wooden beams below.
Anyway, I thought that would be useful information to help folks keep safe. I live next door and I feel really lucky to come away unscathed.
Thank you
I've lived in old buildings with fireplaces around Boston for more than 30 years and never knew this. It makes great sense, and I'll never forget it now.... but I'll bet most of our neighbors are like me and haven't paid any attention to the condition of their hearth.
Very glad you're okay and hope your apartment is, too.
firefighter PSA
Thanks for sharing this. Many years ago, I had a fire under the exact same circumstances.
As a way of contributing to the dialogue, here is what the fire chief told me.
This type fire most often occurs on the third and fourth levels of a building. These old fireplaces were NEVER intended to be wood burning fireplaces. They functioned as coal burning units and the coal never touch the floor of the fireplace.
Stay safe, check your smoke detectors and have a fire extinguisher handy.
I hate people
Damn heathens broke into the building last night.