About that Fire in Boston at Waltham Construction Site #Infrastructure #WaterPressure

Scott Eisen for the Boston Globe

Note: two firefighters were injured but it didn't seem like they were severe injuries and no civilians were in the buildings.

As many or more firefighters die on the job each year as with cops but you hardly ever hear a word about it.


WALTHAM — A massive fire that destroyed a luxury apartment complex under construction in downtown Waltham early Sunday morning was the second Boston-area blaze in a month to ravage a new project built with an increasingly popular method — using almost entirely wood.

Firefighters from across Greater Boston on Sunday morning battled the ten-alarm inferno at the construction site between Elm and Cooper streets, their efforts hampered by winds. Five buildings in the complex collapsed, explosions ripped the air, and ash and embers rained down on the streets.

Boston Globe:  As Waltham fire smolders, building method questioned


That a large building complex burned isn't such news since, wtf, welcome to Dubai.  The local Council was not impressed.

Robert Logan, vice president of the Waltham City Council and former chair of the council’s ordinance and rules committee, expressed concern Sunday about the use of that type of construction.

“It seems to be all the rage these days,” Logan said. “But they seem to burn pretty well.”

- BG


The Rockhouse is glad there were few injuries and this is just an insurance problem now but there's a bigger problem than that.

Waltham Fire Chief says water a major challenge with this fire, water pressure was low and even had to take water from the Charles.

Kelly Sullivan / @ksullivannews

News Reporter, Auburn native, Boston sports fan, Runner, Candy lover, and a Proud Syracuse Orange.

Boston Magazine:  A Huge Fire Ripped Through a New Waltham Apartment Complex

WTF do you mean Boston had trouble drawing water when it sits off the Atlantic Ocean.  That almost certainly means an antiquated water system for yet another example of the government failing to maintain the infrastructure.  When the fire department is in such a tight spot for water they have to draw it directly from the Charles River, the state didn't just fall down, instead it did a total face plant.


Verbatim from the Boston Water and Sewer Commission:

Matthew Tuttle
Construction Site Manager
Engineering Customer Service
Boston Water and Sewer Commission
980 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02119


If you don't get it, check out "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam.

When a fly gets jammed in a printer and results in the accidental incarceration and death-during-torture of Archibald Buttle (instead of Archibald Tuttle), Sam is assigned the task of rectifying the error. Visiting Buttle's widow, Sam encounters her neighbour Jill Layton. He is astonished to see that, although her hair is dark and cropped instead of blonde and long, her clothes masculine, and her demeanor gruff and walled off, she is the woman from his dreams.  (WIKI:  Brazil (1985 film))

And that's when things started getting strange.  "Brazil" is a long-time Rockhouse favorite.