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

Re: Is this the building that looks like is resting on

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Ron. Wow, they do look awfully thin for that big brick shoebox! Hope the fire did not weaken them.

Re: Is this the building that looks like is resting on

[cranbonite.livejournal.com]

I just went to check out the damage - I couldn't remember where I'd parked my car so I wanted to make sure it wasn't too close (it was about 30 feet away so no debris/mess, thank god). The fire was pretty much contained to the lobby door/steps area and the parking spaces next to it. It fucked up the ceiling over the parking spaces pretty badly and there's a lot of roof and insulation littering the ground that is being cleaned up, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable that my building's foundations are stable. I worry a little for the people who live above the spot, but I'm sure the fire company talked things over with them.