Two Boston fire-fighters died while battling a wind-whipped nine-alarm blaze that raced through a brownstone in the city’s fashionable Back Bay neighbourhood.
Quoting city officials the Boston Globe reported.
Lt Edward J Walsh, 43, of West Roxbury, and Fire-fighter Michael R. Kennedy, 33, of Hyde Park were killed in the ferocious blaze.
Officials said this on Wednesday evening at a news conference.
“Today’s a sad day in the history of the Boston Fire Department,” said Fire Commissioner John Hasson.
“Our hearts go out to the families. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.”
“We lost two heroes here today,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Fire-fighters responded at 2:43pm to the four-story brick building, where a fire was spreading upward from the basement, fanned by winds gusts blowing around 40 miles per hour.
Deputy Fire Chief Joe Finn, who was the incident commander, said the strong winds blowing off the nearby Charles River appeared to have fanned the flames.
“In 30 years, I’ve never seen a fire travel that fast,” he said.
He said the two fire-fighters were found in the basement of the building, where the fire apparently started. He said they had gone into the basement, down the interior cellar stairs, with a line to battle the flames.
“They weren’t in the building more than two or three minutes when they ordered a Mayday, [signalling] that they were trapped,” he said.
Kennedy was found in the basement a half-hour after the fire started, then transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Walsh was found in the basement by the cellar stairs. Recovered from the building only this evening, he was pronounced dead at the scene, Finn said.