Thursday, May 2, 2024

New Bedford Fire Causes South Second Street Building to Collapse

rooming house fire new bedford

In the 1920s came zoning, and a more aggressive phase of the assault on inexpensive housing began. Sometimes, they banned rooming houses and other hotels outright in apartment districts; other times, they simply made them impractical by forbidding the dense mixture of retail establishments necessary to support living in them. And by setting aside vast areas of every city for single-family houses on private lots, they drastically curtailed the land available for all forms of less-expensive, multi-unit residences, whether apartments or residential hotels. Two deadly fires at SRO hotels in the early 1970s motivated the City of Seattle to tighten fire and housing rules for multi-story buildings, requiring expensive upgrades to stairways, doors, and walls, among other things. As Reuben McKnight writes in Preservation Seattle, federal funds were available to help apartment-building owners make the retrofits, but rooming houses did not qualify.

Massive rooming house fire that killed 2 in New Bedford started accidentally, State Fire Marshal says

When emergency crews arrived, multiple people were hanging out of windows needing to be rescued, New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said. On Tuesday, New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said that five people were transported to local hospitals, with three in serious condition. No updates were provided on the condition of the hospitalized residents. The size of the building and fire conditions made it difficult for first responders to determine who needed to be rescued first.

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Kruger said the displaced tenants are being assisted by the American Red Cross and Seven Hills Behavioral Health. "Anytime you can have a sprinkler system in the building, it's always better than having a building with no sprinkler system in it obviously," said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger. He’s currently working with community organizations to help get everyone impacted back on their feet.

rooming house fire new bedford

Deadly Fire at New Bedford Rooming House Was an Accident, Investigators Find

Many regional fire departments provided mutual aid, Wark said, and an ambulance task force was activated to assist in patient care and transport. “The bulk of the fire has been knocked down and crews will remain on scene through the night,” he said. The building partially collapsed, New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger told media at the scene, according to WJAR-TV in Providence. The owners of the property had filed to evict at least five tenants between February and March, according to court records. The building was declared structurally unsound and is set to be demolished. The fire department used an excavator to begin tearing it down, starting with the top floor facing east and working downward.

Cause of New Bedford rooming house fire believe started by microwave - SouthCoastToday.com

Cause of New Bedford rooming house fire believe started by microwave.

Posted: Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The other victim, who was found during excavation efforts on Wednesday, remains unidentified, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said in a press release. Two people have died after a deadly fire tore through a four-story rooming house in New Bedford Tuesday afternoon. Kruger said people were hanging out of windows waiting to be rescued, while others were jumping out of windows as firefighters arrived. In 1970, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside—then dominated by retired workers from the timber, fishing and mining industries—still had some 10,000 inexpensive hotel rooms, almost all of them privately owned and operated.

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The fire on Tuesday was contained to the single building, Kruger said. Firefighters established a “collapse zone” around the building with the possibility of the structure deteriorating further. A family member of one resident said that the hatch to the fire escape ladder was locked, causing some to jump from the second-story wooden balcony. Due to their familiarity with the facility and the team in New Bedford, and knowing some of the people there, they were also able to offer emotional and spiritual care.

Rising rules, mixed results

My virtual yoga instructor watched it all via FaceTime, frozen in horror as she watched the fire’s light and thick black smoke fill my living room. So we’ll never know what exactly caused the biggest change of our lives. No one on earth or above asked me if I was ready for the shoulder shake. The morning started with a buzzy, two-minute car ride to my daughter’s school. It ended with us — me, my husband, our then 4-year old and 1-year-old — sharing a queen-size bed at my in-law’s house.

New Bedford rooming house fire started accidentally, investigators say - Turn to 10

New Bedford rooming house fire started accidentally, investigators say.

Posted: Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Assistance to New Bedford fire-displaced residents

Crews could not go into the building Wednesday because it’s structurally unsound, so they used demolition equipment to carefully remove parts of the building, and crews sorted through the debris to locate a person who was missing. As an independent, nonprofit news outlet we are reliant on reader support to help fund the kind of in-depth journalism that keeps the public informed and holds the powerful accountable. Deeds show it was sold for $1 in December 2022 to “1305 Acushnet Ave LLC.” It is not clear if that means the building was sold to new owners or was part of a corporate restructuring. Kenneth Hoffman, listed as one owner of the property before it was sold, is also listed on corporate filings for the LLC that acquired the property in December.

Two dead in New Bedford fire, building to be demolished

The fire quickly grew to five alarms, drawing some 80 firefighters from local communities to the scene, officials said. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell told media at the scene two residents of the building were missing as of Tuesday night, according to WCVB. Firefighters worked through the night to knock down the flames, secure the building and remained working on demolition into Wednesday night. Firefighters initially started searching inside the building for tenants, but were forced out as conditions rapidly deteriorated, according to the fire chief.

By 6 p.m., fire crews had the fire under control but “continued to extinguish hot spots for hours afterward,” maintaining a presence outside the house overnight, Ostroskey’s office said. The news came shortly after the first victim, fourth-floor resident Manuel Moreira, was identified. A second deceased victim inside the charred remains of a New Bedford rooming-style house was found by investigators on Wednesday as they seek to determine what caused a Tuesday fire that destroyed the building. Firefighters initially started searching inside the building for tenants, but were forced out as conditions rapidly deteriorated.

Philip MacDonald’s brother is one of the roughly two dozen people displaced from the fire. New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said of the five people taken to the hospital, one was moved to Rhode Island Hospital. “I had to jump off like towards the second (floor) on the balcony and on the back of it … and I jumped over the railing, and I got on a ladder and jumped the rest to get away from the smoke and all that,” he said. Gilmore said he and other residents used the fire escape to get out. Kruger said no firefighters were injured, and commended the department for their brave response.

Fire crews battled a massive structure fire that erupted in Beverly Hills on Saturday night. BEDFORD, Va. (WDBJ) - A house fire in Bedford has been extinguished after two and a half hours of battling the flames, according to the Forest Fire Department. But finding housing for more than two dozen people is easier said than done, according to Amaral. The hotel vouchers will “buy them more time” to find a new place to live, according to Amaral, adding that they are not designed to be a permanent solution. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

Demolition and excavation equipment was used to find the second victim by Wednesday afternoon, Boston.com reported. NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — The investigation continues into a deadly fire that gutted a New Bedford rooming house Tuesday afternoon. NBC 10 News learned there were no working sprinklers in the rooming house, which had 31 units. The recovery came as investigators used heavy equipment throughout the day to delayer and examine the building on Acushnet Avenue.

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