Fire

Firefighters quickly knocked down a fire in an escalator at the Government Center T stop shortly after 7 p.m., but heavy smoke forced them to evacuate everybody from the station and ask the MBTA to have Green Line trolleys bypass the stop until the smoke could be cleared.

Firefighters responded to 70 St. Botolph St. for a manhole fire around 7:10 p.m. It was declared all out about ten minutes later.

Firefighters responded to a fire on the tracks between Downtown Crossing and Park Street reported around 9 a.m.

Power, of course, had to be shut off to let firefighters onto the tracks, causing delays for riders. The T rolled out shuttle buses for the trip between JFK and Harvard.

The Boston Fire Department reports some trash near some switching equipment caught fire.

Firefighters are at 330 Chelsea St., where a fire quickly went to three alarms shortly before 2 p.m. About five minutes later, firefighters were ordered off the roof and a fourth alarm was ordered. After the roof collapsed and firefighters evacuated the building, a fifth alarm was ordered around 2:45; a sixth at 3:15 p.m.; a seventh at 3:25 when fire flared up in the original location.

Firefighters responded to 33 Union Park around 4 p.m. for a roof fire, which they quickly knocked down, but not before it poured thick black smoke into the air. Fire investigators are now trying to determine the cause; the Boston Fire Department estimated damage at $200,000, said there were no injuries.

Union Park, of course, quickly filled with firetrucks. Photo by Marija Strazdas.

Firefighters managed to contain a fire that broke out shortly after 10 p.m. in a Norfolk Avenue complex where the 9-alarm fire broke out in 2010.

Several of the buildings in the 35 Norfolk Ave., complex were already marked to keep firefighters out. Damage was estimated at $150,000.

The "RFD" on the building stands for Royal Fire Door.

One squatter was removed as firefighters battled the fire; the department reports finding "strong evidence" that squatters were living in the buildings: "Food wrappers, bottles, cans, etc."

Casey reports:

We work at 173 Norfolk and bike by here daily. Some activity there in the last few days: a guy going in the bldg. Also some guy wandering around the rubble two days ago with sandals on. And gloves.

Firefighters are at 28 Paul Gore St. in Jamaica Plain, where a fire has erupted on the second floor.

A short circuit in a beer cooler behind the bar caused the two-alarm fire that ravaged TC's Lounge on Haviland Street, the Boston Fire Department reports, adding the fire had "nothing to do with the transformer fire" that broke out not long after a block away.

Firefighters are at 518 Sumner St., where a fire was reported shortly after 7:30 p.m.

At 9:13, Boston EMS tweeted the scene was clear of smoke.

An explosion in a building housing two large transformers next to the Back Bay Hilton's parking garage at 40 Dalton St. sparked a three-alarm fire that filled the area with toxic black smoke just a block from the earlier fire at TC's Lounge, forced the evacuation of a large hotel and caused power outages throughout the Back Bay and surrounding neighborhoods.

Darkness in the heart of town: Garrett Quinn interviews survivors.

Julie Loncich reports 20,000 NStar customers lost power in the Back Bay, the South End, Chinatown and Kenmore Square - and that they could be without power through Wednesday.

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters are at TC's Lounge, 1 Haviland St., putting out what turned into a two-alarm fire:

Fire behind the bar. Saws in use for opening up and to gain access. No injuries at this time.

The fire, called in at 4:37 p.m., was reported knocked down around 5:10 p.m.

Masstreehugger took this video: "From my window looking west toward the Muddy River/Back Bay Fens Victory Gardens. The fire here is burning past the Fire Dept Communications Hdqrtrs parking lot, the wind blowing it down stream toward Boylston St."

What turned out to be a two-alarm fire on both sides of the Muddy River was reported around 3 p.m., the Boston Fire Department reports.

Smoke from the fire, which rapidly jumped from brush to trees, could be seen as far away as Hingham.

Firefighters say the Fens is one of three areas in Boston primed for brush fires following our snowless winter. The area along the Neponset had a brush fire last month; Stony Brook Reservation on the Hyde Park/Roslindale line has yet to have one.

Fenway fire from Hingham. Photo by Michael Page.

Stephen Walsh reports firefighters are blaming, yes, careless disposal of a cigarette for a roof-deck fire at 72 Tuttle St. in Dorchester - which broke out not long after another smoker-stoked fire in East Boston.

The Boston Fire Department reports a fire at 114 Bayswater St. did an estimated $40,000 in damage.

Fire officials say the blaze, called in around 11:45 a.m., was confined to the top-floor porch of the house with a cannon out front. Cause: "Careless disposal of a cigarette."

No injuries were reported.

Updated 9:45 p.m.

A Brockton man is charged with setting a one-alarm fire that did an estimated $100,000 damage to a house at 7 St. James St. last night, Boston Police report.

James Stewart, 27, is considered dangerous, and may be on the way to Vero Beach, FL in a black 1992 Lexus LS400 with Florida plates: 9112GE. He may also be with his two-year-old daughter, Harmony.

Firefighters responded shortly before 11 p.m. to find a fire blazing on the first floor. The fire was knocked down about 20 minutes later. No residents were injured, but one firefighter was treated at Mass. Eye and Ear for an ear injury, the department says.

Police say witnesses saw Stewart walking away from the fire.

Know where he is? Contact B-2 detectives at 617-343-4275 or the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Innocent, etc.

A pier fire at the Dorchester Yacht Club off the Southeast Expressway erupted late this afternoon and went to two alarms because of the difficulty of fighting it, the Boston Fire Department reports.

Divers went into the water to try to fight the fire on the bottom side of the yacht club's pier from below. Firefighters briefly lost water from one hose when somebody drove over it. The department's marine unit had to wait in Dorchester Bay for about 15 minutes until a bridge tender arrived to get the Morrissey Boulevard drawbridge up to let it through.

Literally. Alert New England reports the Boston Fire Department responded to 4 Yawkey Way - the Sox front office - for a second-floor fire around 11:30. The fire was quickly knocked down.

Steve Saleeba tweets:

Could be one of many fires that will have to be put out there this year.

UPDATE: The Boston Fire Department reports the cause was a short circuit near a wall-mounted light fixture. No injuries, but fire and water damage estimated at $100,000.

Photo copyright Paul Keleher. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

A brush fire along the Neponset River this early in the year may not bode well for other fire-prone expanses across the area.

"I am not a meteorologist but I would think the lack of snow cannot be good for the water supply or our landscape," Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said this morning. "At the fire last night, the firefighters were commenting on how unreal it was to be fighting a brush fire in February. As you can see for some of the photos I took last night, the reeds are high. Usually snow would have compacted them until at least the spring."

MacDonald said the location of last night's brush fire, next to the Neponset between Granite Avenue and Dorchester Lower Mills is one of the areas in Boston prone to brush fires. Stony Brook Reservation where Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury meet, is another potential fire spot, as is the land along the Muddy River and the Fens.

Boston firefighters are in the brush along the Neponset behind Ventura Street in Dorchester Lower Mills, battling a large brush fire.

UPDATE: The Boston Fire Department reports the blaze took six engine companies, two ladder companies and two specialized brush-fire units, along with several hundred feet of hose laid into the marshes, to put out.

The Boston Fire Department reports a two-alarm fire early this morning did an estimated $100,000 damage to Rosticeria Cancun, 39 Maverick Sq.

The department says part of the problem in putting out the fire, reported around 4:50 a.m., was the tight quarters - the restaurant is only ten feet wide.

The Boston Fire Department reports a fire called in around 5:45 a.m. at 28 Harvard Ave. sent a 13-year-old boy to Mass. General with burns.

Five firefighters were also taken to the hospital, one with facial injuries, one with a wrist injury and three with chest pains.

Fire officials are blaming "careless disposal of a cigarette" by a woman taking a smoke break on the second-floor porch.

Nine people were displaced by the fire. Fire officials declared the three decker a total loss.

The Boston Fire Department reports a two-alarm fire on Dartmouth Street started when a hot coffeepot ignited a towel shortly after midnight.

The fire was confined to a single fifth-floor condo at 271 Dartmouth St., but other residences sustained significant smoke and water damage, the department reports. Residents who couldn't find another place to stay were able to stay warm in one of two MBTA buses kept running outside the BPL main library on Boylston Street. The Red Cross was called in to help 25 residents find alternate housing until repairs can be made.

Damage was estimated at $1 million.

The Daily Free Press talks to the father of a BU student critically injured when he escaped a fire on Linden Street last month by jumping out of a second-floor window. Dad hopes son can resume studies at BU next fall.

The Boston Fire Department reports yesterday's four-alarm fire on Chestnut Hill Avenue was still burning at 6:50 p.m., 13 hours after it was first reported, fed by a natural-gas main whose shut-off valve malfunctioned.

The department calls the block of stores a total loss and says five firefighters were taken to the hospital with various injuries.

The department has posted a big collection of photos of the fire. Scott Eisen and Brian D'Amico also posted photos.

2:30 p.m. update: Building a total loss, damage estimated at $4 million. Two firefighters to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Fire Department says fire started in the pizza-place end of the block of stores, across the street from Moogy's. Fire officials say a gas main was feeding the fire and that National Grid sent in a backhoe to dig up the street to shut the flow of gas.

Boston firefighters have been at Chestnut Hill Avenue since 5:49 a.m., battling a stubborn fire that has required so much water it's affecting water pressure across the neighborhood. The Boston Fire Department reports no injuries as of 6:50 a.m.

Firefighters in the smoke. Photo by BFD.