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Roof explodes in fire off Huntington Avenue

Wigglesworth Street fire

Firefighters rushed to 27 Wigglesworth Street, near Huntington, around 10:05 p.m. for a roof fire that went to two alarms at 10:20 p.m., but which was largely knocked down about 10 minutes after that.

Elizabeth Rioux, who took the photo out her window, reports:

THE ROOF OF A BUILDING ACROSS FROM MY APARTMENT LITERALLY JUST EXPLODED AS I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW.

The Boston Fire Department reports no injuries in the fires atop the three-story residential building. The department says 10 people were displaced and estimates damage at $500,000.

Police blocked Huntington Avenue to traffic, trolleys and buses between Longwood and Brigham Circle.

Another view of the fire.

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Comments

What else might it have been?

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I know that has been a problem on the roof of my office building downtown - once it was a generator fire, another time it was an AC unit compressor overheating.

If there was a backup generator (for electricity or even just for an elevator), it might have leaked fuel for a while.

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Looks awfully large though. Maybe I'm just not seeing the scale properly.

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If a generator leaked fuel all over a roof, it could go up once the fuel-air mix met a source of ignition.

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for many backup generators. I'm going with HVAC where bearings seize and fan belts overheat.

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Longworth? I think you mean Longwood.

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Thanks, fixed.

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BFD had it under control quickly. I am fairly certain there are no roof decks on Wigglesworth, though possibly have roof mounted AC. Fairly certain that they are the brownstones owned by Harvard School of Public Health (or right next to).

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...all the way over at the Pru. I thought it was fireworks at first.

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Not long before BFD responded to the fire, several people in the South End reported a large explosion, maybe some really big fireworks.

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The reports of explosions in the South End were likely unrelated. We heard three last night that sounded like they were right outside (nowhere near Longwood).

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