Car Fire: Highland Ave @ Conwell St.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

Fire: or rather cars on fire and exploding under the lofted concrete apartment building (270 Highland Ave). About 6 firetrucks, and all manners of Somerville/Medford Responding.

Woke up at a little before 2am to smashing of windows and general mayhem, and looked out the window and saw flames reflected in the house across the street. Heard more explosions, and called 911, ran outside, and saw the cars on fire in the parking lot under the building overhang. Still more explosions as the firefighters worked to put out the fires. It looked as if some part of the building lobby may have caught fire, or it could have just been flaming debris obscured by smoke.

There were reports of someone fleeing the scene, running down Highland towards Porter St., but other observers, noted he was just watching the fire, and bolted when the car started exploding.

The fire has been put out and people are loitering around in their pajamas... Nobody seemed to be hurt - The Cataldo Ambulance crew and gurney were unused at present observation. News cameras are present -- so we'll probably see this with more details on the TV tomorrow.

Comments

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of surprised I can't find anything in the news yet.

It was really terrifying to run out of my home through acrid smoke that burned my throat with my traumatized cats in tow. Thank god I have two carriers though. I talked to my neighbor whose husband dragged her out without the cat - I'm so glad when we got back the smoke hadn't gone all the way into the apartments; presumably their cat's okay. (One guy was holding his, no carrier.)

It sucked. I still haven't left the building again to see the damage (we re-entered from the back).

[omnia-mutantur.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say yay for cat-evacuation. Go you!

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

If I had let myself run out of there without them I might have thrown myself in front of a truck when I saw how serious it was. Fortunately when I opened my door I smelled - and saw - the smoke right away and knew there was no way in hell I was going anywhere without them. (One of the two I have had for ten years. No way was I leaving my best friend to an uncertain fate.)

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it is far superior to leave friends to well-defined fates.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

Ummm, okay. No need to pick on my word choice, seriously. It was sorta stressful.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

It was meant to be humorous, not an attack.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Wasn't sure what to make of it. Can get defensive with anything regarding my kitty :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Do you worry about having to find them in an emergency? My fear is that cats will go hide and I'd never be able to find them in time. I don't own any. I just have a fear of not being able to rescue them because they're hiding.

A close friend does live in the building. You may know here. She has two cats, and one is a tuxedo. I can't remember what the other one is. Her car was damaged.

I'm glad everybody (and their animals) are okay.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

To some extent - but my apartment is a pretty small two bedroom, and my boyfriend is pretty good at catching them. If you have a bigger place with lots of hiding space, I could see the worry, but I always keep closet doors shut, so about the only place they can hide is under my bed or the couch - pretty easy to find them and wiggle in to grab them.

I don't know that I know here, but I wonder if she had the station wagon that was perpendicular to the cars on fire. It was pretty melted on the headlights and covered in debris. I feel so bad for the people whose cars were involved - yeah, there's insurance, but it's still a big mess :(

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I am getting some inside information from them, and there is an open arson investigation, which is kind of scary.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I heard rumors of the arson, which was made even richer when I went to my car and found it had been messed with. No damage, nothing stolen (there was nothing worth stealing) but stuff was thrown around, the seat moved, etc. Awesome. I brought it to the police to take the lighter that was left in there. Ugh. It's all pretty scary.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Was there any sign of a forced entry? I hope your building has security cameras.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

I don't know about cameras, but it did sound like mayhem before I saw flames. There has been a group of kids? tossing/kicking garbage cans over and such periodically on Highland Ave.

But the location choice : blocked by fence on 4 sides, covered, dark, quiet would lead me to suspect that they (if there is an arsonist) chose the location for that very reason.

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

No, no sign of forced entry. I don't *think* I'd leave my car unlocked but it's possible I just pressed the button on the auto locker and didn't aim it right. Obviously I'll be more diligent about double-checking.

I'm 99% sure the building lacks security cameras. It's not the kind of neighborhood that seems to demand it, in my experience.