8th alarm fire in Boston

All posts tagged 8th alarm fire in Boston

8th Alarm fire in East Boston – April 9, 2014

Posted by firescenesadmin on April 14, 2014
Posted in: FIre Scene photos, NEW. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Hello everyone,

So far this year, I have been late to almost every fire that I have been to.  I live in RI, about an hour from Boston but frequently travel there.  I was listening to Boston the other night and heard them strike the box for the fire on Lexington Street in East Boston.  This area is isolated from Boston and is very densely populated.  The streets are full of three deckers, separated by no more than three or four feet.

A fire broke out in a vehicle between two three-deckers and extended to both. District Chief 1 covers East Boston and falls under the command of Division 1.  On his arrival, District 1 reported heavy fire in two dwellings and struck a second alarm.  The wind swept fire quickly spread through the roof and extended to another building on Lexington.  District 1 struck four alarms within the first five minutes of operating, all before the deputy arrived.  Once on scene, C-6, the Deputy, assumed command and made District 1 operations chief.  Eight alarms would be needed to bring the fire under control.

I left my house as the sixth alarm was struck and arrived after the fire had been knocked down.  The most popular photo of this fire is of the BMW parked on the hydrant.  My photo isn’t the one that went viral but I walked right past it when walking to the fire scene.  It is one of those things that I can scratch off of my list of things that as a fire photographer I have always wanted to shoot.

Since I don’t go out much at night, it also gave me a chance to see how reflective the new green on green  stripes are on the new gear.  It is far more noticeable than the green with silver.  For those that are familiar with the Boston Fire Department, I included a photo of Engine 24 and one of the officer of Engine 52.  Engine 24, along with Ladder 23, are two very busy companies from the Grove Hall section of Roxbury.  Engine 52, housed with Ladder 29, is located on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester.  Neither one of these companies are remotely close to East Boston and it is very rare to see them there.

Tom Carmody

 

BMW with fire hose running through int

Tom Carmody photo

Boston fire trucks at night fire scene

Tom Carmody photo

Boston firemen with hose at night fire scene

Tom Carmody photo

Boston fireman at night fire scene

Tom Carmody photo

Boston firemen at night fire scene

Tom Carmody photo

Boston fire trucks at night fire scene

Tom Carmody photo

Boston Fire Department Division Chief

Tom Carmody photo

The rest of the photos are on my site  www.northeastfirephotos.smugmug.com

8-Alarm fire in Boston – December 3, 2013

Posted by firescenesadmin on December 5, 2013
Posted in: FIre Scene photos, NEW. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

In the early morning hours of December 3, 2013, Boston Box 711 was struck for a building fire at 327 Summer Street.  First to arrive, TL-3 reported smoke showing from the fifth floor of a large commercial building.  As companies entered the building, imaging cameras showed very high heat coming from the basement level.  Extreme caution was used by interior companies and in short order, companies were withdrawn and eight alarms were struck.

Videos from the fire showed heavy fire blowing out from the first floor of the building.  The fire broke out at 4:30 in the morning but I didn’t find out until I got out of bed at 7.  I was planning on going to Boston that day anyway, so as I was getting into the city, crews were reporting that they still had moderate smoke conditions and visible fire around the columns of the second and third floor.  The building was five stories from the Summer Street side but six stories from the rear alley.

I arrived shortly after 10, 6 hours into operations.  There were numerous ladders set up on Summer Street and several engines and a ladder set up in the rear alley.  In the last photo, oddly in 20+ years of shooting is one of my favorites, you can see streams being played from the building across the alley into the upper levels of the fire building.  These two angles were the only ones that weren’t blocked by fire lines when I arrived.  The rest of the photos are on my site, www.northeastfirephotos.smugmug.com

Tom Carmody

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo

8-Alarm fire in Boston photos

Tom Carmody photo