Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Special_Ed]

2 Boston Firefighters Killed In Restaurant Fire

(WBZ) WEST ROXBURY The restaurant fire which claimed the lives of two Boston firefighters Wednesday night was burning for more than an hour before employees called 911, Fire Chief Kevin MacCurtain said.

Killed were Paul Cahill, 55, of Scituate, and Warren Payne, 53, of Canton, who served on Engine 30, Ladder 25, the first unit to respond to the fire.

Payne, a 19-year veteran, leaves behind a wife and two children. Cahill joined the department in 1993. He leaves a wife and three children.

Nine other firefighters and one paramedic have been released from area hospitals. Another firefighter, Ken Gibson, is still being treated for smoke inhalation but could be released Friday.

(Click here for the complete list of injured firefighters)

The initial investigation points to a grease fire in the kitchen of the Tai-Ho Mandarin and Cantonese resturant.

MacCurtain said the flames were burning in a ceiling crawl space for about an hour before employees became aware of the fire, called 911 and evacuated the restaurant around 9 p.m.

But while the fire smoldered unnoticed in the ceiling crawl space, toxic and flammable gases collected, MacCurtain said, and what looked at first like a routine fire quickly turned deadly.

"When they started to extinguish the fire, something unexpected happened," he said. "Very quickly and very suddenly the entire ceiling was blown down under force and a volume of fire was pushed down that had accumulated in that crawl space."

The firefighters likely became disoriented and were unable to find their way out, he said.

The blaze spread to adjoining businesses in the row of yellow-brick storefronts, and at least four other stores were damaged. A 3-ton air conditioning unit fell partially through the roof, providing a burst of air to help fuel the blaze, authorities said.

"The flames were coming out of everywhere, through the roof, out the windows," said George Hines, 72, who walked to the fire scene after listening to the scanner. "I saw three firefighters pull one guy out -- just dragged him right through the flames. He was in bad shape, you could tell."

All of the employees and customers managed to escape unharmed. The owner was in China due to the death of a relative.

A police station was at the end of the block, but was not affected by the fire.

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser has appointed a board of inquiry to further investigate the tragedy.

Donations can be sent to:

West Roxbury Fire Fund
c/o Boston Firefighters Credit Union
60 Hallet Street
Dorchester, MA 02124
617-288-2420

[mr_magoo]

Sad news indeed.

[Jock]

These families will be in our prayers...

[skreminegul07]

New update:
Mayor orders 'stem to stern' review of fire department


Hiller Instinct: free speech v. privacy rights
BOSTON -- Mayor Thomas Menino called for a review of the city's fire department in the wake of Boston media reports that autopsies of two firefighters killed in the line of duty showed one had more than three times the legal limit of alcohol and a second had traces of cocaine in his system.

Autopsy reports are not public documents in Massachusetts. The media reports cited confidential sources briefed on the autopsies. State and local officials have declined to comment publicly about the content of the autopsy reports.

Menino, asked about the reports, said he was concerned about procedures in the department, and said he's launching an investigation.

"I will order a stem to stern look at the procedures and practices of our fire department in the City of Boston," Menino said.

Firefighters Paul Cahill, 55, of Scituate, and Warren Payne, 53, of Canton died battling a blaze in a one-story restaurant in the city's West Roxbury neighborhood in August.

Investigators said the fire burned for an hour or more inside a drop ceiling where grease had accumulated before turning into a fast-moving inferno.

Payne, a 19-year veteran of the fire department, had two children and Cahill, a 14-year veteran, was a father of three. They were hailed as heroes and their funerals drew firefighters from across the country. They were the first Boston firefighters to die in the line of duty since 1994.

A message left at the Cahill home was not returned on Thursday. A phone number for Payne's home was not listed.

The reports sparked a legal battle when lawyers from a firefighter's union went to court on Wednesday after learning that a local television station was prepared to run a report on the autopsy results.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Merita Hopkins sided with the union and ordered WHDH-TV Channel 7 not to air details of the autopsies, but that ruling was overturned on Thursday after the station appealed. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald both ran reports on the autopsies, also citing unnamed sources they said were briefed on the autopsies.

The reports said Cahill had registered a blood alcohol level of .27, more than three times the legal limit in Massachusetts, and Payne had traces of cocaine in his system.

During a court hearing on Thursday, lawyers for WHDH-TV argued that the earlier court ruling was an infringement on the station's First Amendment right to free speech.

"You cannot run into a court and prevent the media ... from publishing information it has," said Mike Gass, a lawyer for the station.

Paul Hynes, a lawyer for the union, said the station knew autopsy reports in Massachusetts are not public documents and should not run information obtained from people who saw the autopsies.

"We know that information was not lawfully obtained," he said. "Are we to believe that they are simply going to report the story or put their spin on it?"

Appeals Court Justice Andrew R. Grainger lifted the injunction.

Edward Kelly, president of Boston Firefighters Local 718, demanded a criminal investigation into the leaking of the autopsy results and prosecution of anyone responsible.

"The reckless and illegal release of confidential information has placed an undeserved emotional trauma on the Cahill and the Payne families at a time when the grief and suffering from their loss is ongoing," he said.

"There is one undeniable and indisputable fact. Two Boston firefighters were killed in the line of duty due to a violent building explosion," he added.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health typically conducts an investigation, including looking at toxicology reports, before approving federal death benefits for firefighters -- benefits that could be as much as $150,000 a family.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This