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Huge fire on small JP street
By adamg on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 6:15pm
Five-alarm fire in a $1-million mansion on Dane Street this afternoon.
The Globe reports two kids and a nanny inside got out safely after painters trying to remove some old paint with a blowtorch set the place on fire. Four firefighters required medical attention.
The house last fall:
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
This house is just around
This house is just around the corner from where I live, and the immediate neighborhood if full of firetrucks, police officers, and concerned neighbors. The family who owns the house lost everything - they were nearly done with a full renovation of this house.
I've always been curious
I've always been curious about that house
JP house
The house was built in the Georgian style in 1834 on land that had been sold by the Eliot School trustees after they laid out Eliot street. It was the oldest house left on Eliot street, which it originally faced. It was featured on the JP Historical Society Pondside walk.
http://www.jphs.org/2008-walking-tours/
Removing paint with a blowtorch?
This is very sad. A family just remodeled the house and now it's gone. But it was started trying take paint off with a blowtorch? Is that a common way to remove paint?
Special place in the afterlife
Must be reserved for people who have burned down historic buildings like this with blowtorches. Makes me wonder what they have inhaled from doing so in the past that makes them continue to think it a good idea?
The church my husband grew up attending burned down like this. So did the original building in Arlington that held the UU congregation. So many others ... and when it isn't burning things down, it is a serious hazard to the painter (why some painters still become lead poisoned despite awareness and dust masks for sanding). Does anybody ever learn?
Hey Swirlygrrl--Did your
Hey Swirlygrrl--Did your husband go to the church in Gloucester that was burned down in the same way--with a blowtorch? I just had a neighbor tell me about it.
Whit
Same story, different place
Nope Whit, his was the Congregational church in South Weymouth.
The old new england style church in Arlington Center went up during pre-Bicentennial renovations in the same fashion.
Sad to hear this happened in Gloucester, too.
The golden dome on the Old
The golden dome on the Old Capitol building in Iowa City burned down for the same reason; a worker using a blowtorch set the 150-year-old wood on fire. It's fixed now, but it was kind of eerie driving into town and seeing the symbol of the University of Iowa decapitated.
Talk to your children
It's okay to tell someone if you witness inappropriate torching.
Answer
Yes, it is a common way to remove paint from a large surface such as those columns. It is common because it takes less work and is easier than using chemicals or just scraping away. The blowtorch softens the paint and makes it easy to remove.
I guess the problem was that the columns were hollow, and a fire began inside the columns that went right up to the roof, invisible to the person using the blowtorch.