Fire tears through Suffolk Downs grandstand

EAST BOSTON - Fire tore through the old grandstand at Suffolk Downs race track overnight into Tuesday morning.

An alarm in the building went off around 10 p.m. Monday and the fire quickly rose to six alarms.

Tiffany Ingemi watched the fire with a sinking feeling. The race track is right next to her backyard.

"I'm actually really upset about it sick to my stomach. It's a landmark. I've been here since I was a kid and I used to watch the horses from my house," said Ingemi.

Firefighters had a difficult time because the water supply is limited in the area so they had to run thousands of feet of water hoses to reach the fire.

Crews ended up breaking through a neighbor's fence across the street and stretching the hose through their back and front yards to reach a hydrant.

Firefighters were eventually ordered off the roof and used tower ladders to douse the flames from above. They also used a drone to help them get a better view of the fire.

"The drone is a great tool. We get a bird's eye view of the whole building. It has thermal imaging so we can see fire traveling in the roof, underneath the roof, so we can see if it's spreading further down the building or not, so we can really isolate where we're targeting with the help of the drone," said Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey.

The building has been closed and Suffolk Downs is currently being redeveloped. Construction crews broke ground last week. The project will bring 10,000 apartments and condos to the area along with office, retail space, hotels, and a science lab.

The last live horse races were held there back in 2019. 

There's no word yet on how the fire started but the arson squad is investigating, the fire department said. 

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