pedxing
Member
I just learned that the woman who died in a fire yesterday was a friend of my wife's and was best and co-author to a friend of ours (who was talking about about joining us on Willey for FoT48). My wife tells me she was an avid hiker and climber, so I thought I might post the news here. Her husband has serious smoke inhalation. One son was on his way to college when he heard the news and turned around. Since I was burned in a candle fire recently, this candle fire strikes close to home. My prayers are with the family, with the surviving husband, and with her friend. Since Globe links expire quickly, here is the news account:
Woman dies in Brookline condo fire
Man critically injured; candle blamed in blaze
By Megan Tench and John Ellement, Globe Staff | September 4, 2004
BROOKLINE -- A fast-moving blaze shot up to a third-floor apartment early yesterday, killing a woman in her 60s and leaving a man critically injured, officials said. The fire that started on a first-floor porch was blamed on an unattended candle, said Brookline Fire Chief John D. Green.
An autopsy found that the woman died from the heat and the inhalation of poisonous gases, said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating. Officials have tentatively confirmed the name of the woman, but she was so badly burned that dental records are being collected to confirm her identity.
The man, whose name also was not released, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of injuries caused by smoke inhalation. Police said he is expected to survive.
The fire broke out inside the three-story brick condominium building on Pleasant Street around 4 a.m. Firefighters from Boston, Cambridge, and Newton joined the Brookline crews in fighting the three-alarm blaze, but rescuers could not reach the victims in the third-floor condominium in time. The man was found in the bedroom and the woman on a landing in the apartment.
The state fire marshal's office determined that a lit candle on the first-floor porch started the blaze, Green said. A woman who lives alone in the first-floor apartment apparently sleeps on the enclosed porch during the summer months, he said.
"She woke up to a fire," he said.
She tried to put it out using a blanket, he said. But when that did not work, she ran to the kitchen to get some water.
The blaze was overwhelming, Green said, explaining that it shot up from the porches on the front side of the building and through an open third-floor window. The second-floor residents were not home at the time, he said, and their windows were closed, but the fire ripped through that condominium as well.
While battling the blaze, Brookline firefighters went along Pleasant Street, rousting residents from their beds to prevent further injuries if the fire spread, residents and officials said.
Lauren E. O'Donnell, 20, was the first of five roommates awakened by pounding and shouting at the door of her apartment two doors away from the fire scene. She was fumbling with the latch and told the firefighter outside to wait while she got a roommate to help open the door.
"We don't have any time! Stand back!" the firefighter told O'Donnell, then kicked open the door and escorted her and her roommates, including Christopher M. Kuenze and Suksa Sueksagan, outside.
Sueksagan, 20, a Boston University student, said she turned toward the burning building and was awed by the ferocity and intensity of the fire. "It was like a bonfire," she said.
Kuenze, also 20 and a BU student, said, "The house was engulfed. Fire was coming out of all three levels. It was like an inferno."
Some neighbors expressed surprise that they did not hear the alarms of smoke detectors. Green said firefighters found detectors but did not know if they were working. But he said, "There was so much fire, it was so active, that there was little smoke."
Later yesterday, the red brick of the burned building was coated with heavy black soot and the sky was visible through what was once the ceiling of the third-floor residence.
In 2002, there were 208 candle fires in the state that were reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System, according to the fire marshal's office. Those fires caused three civilian deaths, 20 civilian injuries, 22 firefighter injuries, and an estimated $4.3 million in damages.
Half of all the candle fires start in bedrooms, and more than 90 percent occur in private homes.
Woman dies in Brookline condo fire
Man critically injured; candle blamed in blaze
By Megan Tench and John Ellement, Globe Staff | September 4, 2004
BROOKLINE -- A fast-moving blaze shot up to a third-floor apartment early yesterday, killing a woman in her 60s and leaving a man critically injured, officials said. The fire that started on a first-floor porch was blamed on an unattended candle, said Brookline Fire Chief John D. Green.
An autopsy found that the woman died from the heat and the inhalation of poisonous gases, said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating. Officials have tentatively confirmed the name of the woman, but she was so badly burned that dental records are being collected to confirm her identity.
The man, whose name also was not released, was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of injuries caused by smoke inhalation. Police said he is expected to survive.
The fire broke out inside the three-story brick condominium building on Pleasant Street around 4 a.m. Firefighters from Boston, Cambridge, and Newton joined the Brookline crews in fighting the three-alarm blaze, but rescuers could not reach the victims in the third-floor condominium in time. The man was found in the bedroom and the woman on a landing in the apartment.
The state fire marshal's office determined that a lit candle on the first-floor porch started the blaze, Green said. A woman who lives alone in the first-floor apartment apparently sleeps on the enclosed porch during the summer months, he said.
"She woke up to a fire," he said.
She tried to put it out using a blanket, he said. But when that did not work, she ran to the kitchen to get some water.
The blaze was overwhelming, Green said, explaining that it shot up from the porches on the front side of the building and through an open third-floor window. The second-floor residents were not home at the time, he said, and their windows were closed, but the fire ripped through that condominium as well.
While battling the blaze, Brookline firefighters went along Pleasant Street, rousting residents from their beds to prevent further injuries if the fire spread, residents and officials said.
Lauren E. O'Donnell, 20, was the first of five roommates awakened by pounding and shouting at the door of her apartment two doors away from the fire scene. She was fumbling with the latch and told the firefighter outside to wait while she got a roommate to help open the door.
"We don't have any time! Stand back!" the firefighter told O'Donnell, then kicked open the door and escorted her and her roommates, including Christopher M. Kuenze and Suksa Sueksagan, outside.
Sueksagan, 20, a Boston University student, said she turned toward the burning building and was awed by the ferocity and intensity of the fire. "It was like a bonfire," she said.
Kuenze, also 20 and a BU student, said, "The house was engulfed. Fire was coming out of all three levels. It was like an inferno."
Some neighbors expressed surprise that they did not hear the alarms of smoke detectors. Green said firefighters found detectors but did not know if they were working. But he said, "There was so much fire, it was so active, that there was little smoke."
Later yesterday, the red brick of the burned building was coated with heavy black soot and the sky was visible through what was once the ceiling of the third-floor residence.
In 2002, there were 208 candle fires in the state that were reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System, according to the fire marshal's office. Those fires caused three civilian deaths, 20 civilian injuries, 22 firefighter injuries, and an estimated $4.3 million in damages.
Half of all the candle fires start in bedrooms, and more than 90 percent occur in private homes.
