Fire breaks out at Congress Street high-rise in Boston again
BOSTON -- Firefighters responded to 1 Congress Street on Saturday after there was fire on multiple floors of the high-rise building.
According to the Boston Fire Department, flames were traveling through the ductwork and shafts after the fire started in a utility shaft on the sixth floor. The fire made its way all the way up to the 25th floor. Firefighters needed to open walls to reach the fire and cut open the ductwork.
To keep them from overheating, extra crews responded to allow firefighters to rotate and rest.
"With the heat and the amount of gear they were wearing, it was a little difficult. The on-scene incident commander went to four alarms, just to cycle the firefighters in because the heat was so bad," said Boston Fire Department Commissioner Paul Burke. "There are so many hazards that they don't know about. There could be holes in the floors, open elevator shafts, anything that they can trip in with heavy smoke conditions. They have to be very careful."
Three firefighters suffered minor injuries. In total, more than 100 firefighters worked on the fire, and all the construction workers made it out safely.
There are multiple street closures in the area.
Crews responded to the same building about a month ago.
On June 24, about 300-400 workers were in the building, which is under construction when a fire broke out. A significant amount of smoke was trapped in the building after the fire was put out, so firefighters were forced to break windows to let it out.
The fire temporarily closed down the ramps to I-93 in both directions.
This building is also near the Government Center Parking Garage, where a demolition worker was killed in March.
