Conflagration (1975)

a suburb of Boston across the Mystic River next to the Navy Yard po after block of tin pla wooden structures filled with Rags paper scrap metal and open storage areas piled high with rubber tires the population has large concentrations of ethnic groups from Europe and Puerto Ricans speaking Spanish only on Saturday October 13th 1973 weatherman Bruce schwagler predicted a change in the weather it was a warm and sunny day across New England very warm for this October day 77° a high in Boston warm and humid air streaming northward along the Atlantic Coastline but it's going to change fontal system is located in New York state that front is coming our way and behind it cool dry and very windy weather prevails winds up to 50 60 m per hour across the Great Lakes these winds will be moving into Massachusetts tomorrow and that means we're going to have a very windy dry day and with the dry conditions prevailing in forests and in cities be very careful of all outdoor fires on Sunday the residents of Chelsea did what they usually do on Sunday some relaxed in the Sun or took a [Music] walk got married or attended a social Gathering then at 3:56 p.m. something ignited Salvage Goods in a woodframe warehouse and the Euphoria of a sun afternoon turned into [Music] [Music] hell gelsea box 215 Arlington and Third Street YY Box 25 hington and Third Street [Music] [Music] the Chelsea fire department dispatched the usual first alarm response of three engine companies One ladder company and a deputy chief at 3:59 p.m. the fire crossed Summer Street deputy chief coin had been out on patrol in the area because of wires felled by high winds and a number of brush fires he arrived at 4:01 p.m. and ordered a second alarm before it was sounded he ordered a third alarm 40 mph winds Bann the [Music] fire at 4:03 p.m. Chief Herbert fathergill arrived while I'm answering C1 of C1 the mess received C1 on ERS of the chief una fourth alarm box 215 by 4:04 p.m. five communities had alerted 10 engine companies to assist Chelsea heavy streams mainly from deck guns fed by large diameter holes were used from the start additional companies responding to the multiple alarms began to arrive however the fire was extending faster than companies could get into operation spreading through outdoor piles of tires and other combustibles in wood frame buildings realizing the situation Chief fathergill sent the first Declaration of a conflagration by R in US history notify Newton control immediately notify them that Chelsea has a full fledged configration full fledged configration Kelsey to new control answering Chelsea Newton chief of the department reports box 215 is now a configration l year Chief has struck the Fifth Alarm and reports it is now a configration District 13 Chelsea is now a conflagration with the fire completely out of control and spreading rapidly Chief fathergill telephone to fire districts North and South for additional help while the dispatcher at Newton Fire District 13 control center also summoned Mutual Aid assistance s we please send engine one to Chelsea this is Newton control the response to calls for assistance was terrific the century old New England tradition of mutual Aid immediately Rose to the challenge an army of 700 firefighters from 69 communities responded with 190 units of various types of firefighting apparatus they converged on Chelsea from all directions wurn Asbury AO Watertown Marlboro and dozens more volunteers side by side with regulars on and on they came bearing the proud names of New England towns born in colonial days they rallied in Chelsea and placed themselves under command of Chief fathergill according to custom the Chelsea Chief dispatcher marshaled the reinforcements in a parking lot pending Chief father Gill's instructions oh yeah R you take your pump and get down to the William school and assist the Boston 26 lay lineing them help them fight that fire on R some of the apparatus arrived via the Tobin Bridge which connects Boston and Chelsea and which had been closed for repairs The massport Authority reopened it to let emergency vehicles through on a traffic free route the Chelsea Police Department was busy evacuating residents from the fire area Sergeant Andy Mullen drove through the streets broadcasting an English and Spanish over a loudspeaker urging the people to evacuate their homes [Music] when notified of the extent of the fire mayor Philip Spelman hurried to Police Headquarters established his control center there and conferred with police chief Abraham Bergen we want to keep us on Broadway we want to make sure that nobody we' got registry men in here and they'll be out on because uh it'll keep them busy on Broadway too now why can I just want to all over the city with the only place we're weak is in Broadway Mr Mayor yes Frank will that Agency for civil defense hi Frank have assistance what I need right away is 400 Cuts blankets and two mobile kitchen I got to get them down the Army right away they're bringing those people down here from the fire you got no ways of putting them up bab you know so that's stuff we need right away the mayor Chelsea has requested 400 CS uh 800 blankets 400 pillow cases he also wants um uh two mobile kitchens to set up a refuge Refugee Center he wants them sent to the armory on CA Street if you get that have them report to Harry partty he'll be there at the refugee Center at the Armory that was mayor white of Boston and he's going to send us 25 cars and 50 police officers with dogs and they men from the Tactical police force so I think we'll be in very good shape with them okay have S and Doug and and S and groom put them right out in the street a you know especially on Broadway the city hall yeah uh that's our only bad SP now you mentioned earlier that about the national guide Charlie diorio is going to take care of the National Guard he's right trying to reach the governor right now Charlie will get back to us as soon as he can we got to get some more help in here we have we can't keep up what we got a you know that's right Chief fathergill tried to walk from point to point but the area was so large and the fire was developing so fast that he could not exercise control that way this was remedied by the state police providing a helicopter and flying the chief above Chelsea to give him an overview slience as possible over towards fifth in Allington the Massachusetts National Guard provided another helicopter and mayor Spelman Flew Over the stricken area with police chief Bergen from the air the chief could detect spotfires and direct companies to them by radio with his aerial survey completed mayor Spelman issued orders to block off every major road leading into Chelsea we can stop the floor traffic in from Boston if we shut off those two Bridges and then we don't have to worry about dead end of the state the state police gave major support to the closing of the access roads station WBZ broadcast an appeal our regular program is being interrupted at this time here on WBZ for a special announcement due to the extremely dangerous fire in progress in Chelsea the mayor of Chelsea has requested that sightseers stay away from all roads leading into that City all access roads have been blocked off only fire police National Guard and ambulance Vehicles will be admitted into Chelsea I repeat please stay away from all roads leading into Chelsea Police from many surrounding communities including hundreds of off-duty Boston police arrived within a short time to assist the Chelsea Police [Music] the Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency activated its emergency Operation Center and sent sector coordinators hurrying to Chelsea to assist in the organizing of the relief effort Harry Pare worked at the Chelsea National Guard Armory other civil defense Corps coordinators were stationed at City Hall Police Headquarters and Chelsea Naval Hospital the Armory was used as a shelter for evacuees with cots and food [Music] provided 500 troops of the Massachusetts National Guard had just completed a 26 mile hike for charity when the fire broke out returning from the March the troops immediately went on patrol Duty in the stricken area to seal it off and prevent [Music] looting by 6:00 p.m. the configration had increased to such intensity that it developed into what Chelsea fireman described as a firestorm the intense heat of the fire created its own convection column winds at ground level blew towards the fire at such speeds that men found it difficult to walk items as heavy as shutters in 2x6 boards flew about flaming trash was carried by winds to adjacent buildings which they ignited flaming Brands were drawn up in a thermal column above the fire then deposited up to a half mile [Music] downwind the wind vent the fire and sent it under spaces beneath buildings like a blowtorch thus thousands of square ft of property were being [Music] [Music] preheated at times there were walls of fire 100 ft wide and 80 ft high in the air the fire was moving faster than people could run this phenomenon approximated the fire condition which could be expected in a nuclear attack assuming that a blast wave did not greatly alter the combustible structures the water supply was critical hand lines were too small to be affected there was not enough water available to supply Master streams broken pipes in damaged buildings stole the water pressure firemen had to use a relay system in which several hoses are connected to reach the fire area from an operational Hy in some cases those lines were laid as far as 3,200 ft water pressure was maintained by pumping from one engine to a second to a third the over at 7:30 p.m. police achieved control of the spectators by 8:00 p.m. 20% of the city of Chelsea had been consumed by fire chief fathergill facing the most massive Urban Fire that any American fire chief has encountered in the last 50 years fought the conflagration like a general fighting a major battle he used certain fire companies to fight a delaying action while he established defense positions at strategic locations Beyond which he determined not to retreat to do this he held his reserves furnished by Mutual Aid assistance and did not commit them to the battle until the proper time the defensive lines were dictated by locations where there was space wide enough for a fire break to the north a defense was established along Railroad tracks with a road bed wide enough for fire break purposes in the easterly direction the firefighters were successful in stopping the advance of the Flames at Arlington Street which is a wide artery with reduced building fire potential and vacant blocks with the wind velocity reaching 100 mph at times the tactics used consisted of preventive action rather than an attempt to extinguish the fire the plan was to slow down the fire and wet down unaffected buildings to reduce the preheating caused by heat intensity this saved the William School the firefighters turned their backs to The Inferno and played streams of water on the school another tactic was to apply as much water as possible at a high point to knock down Sparks or Brands which would have been blown up to a residential area on a nearby Hill [Music] by 9:15 p.m. the main fire was contained as the wind Abad while the firemen fought heroically mayor Spelman organized the people of Chelsea behind the scenes to Aid the fire victims the mayor moved his command post from Police Headquarters to City Hall and the N of Columbus are going to take care of that all right okay all right Rob our shoes are coming from Sears Rob all right Sears robot send the shoes right down to Major houseing on a Salvation Army of groceries will be going the armor okay now if if those were emergency supplies haven't taken care with the Army if they not their can goes and that right down a major H te an impromptu hotline operation was established in the mayor's outer office in City Hall by the Reverend Larry French of Horus Memorial Baptist Church Who was appointed disaster coordinator by mayor Spelman send them downtown to any of the stores we'll pick up the bill okay we have an agreement everything has to go to the Salvation bring nothing here if they won't take it to the horse moral Baptist Church nothing here not people are Clos FR there is a man who has a three room apartment in quiny wondering if get his phone number put right into will immed truck at n from the city of Boston broke down may I send them can truck and have drive it I got a pump coming in and I want to right up to Chelsea Memorial Hospital and when it gets up there we get a uh low water pressure on the hill right so send that pump right up there now there's a National Guard Mobile water vehicle coming in with 1,000g tank there too there's also some am coming in from out of town winter par then disaster struck again ignited by windborne Sparks and BRS fire broke out on the roof of City Hall may have staff have to evacuate the building with city hall now on fire mayor Spelman was forced to move his operations back to Police Headquarters even though the slate roof of City Hall was considered almost fireproof fire did break out under the eaves and had to be fought in the Smoke Filled attic [Music] [Music] one of the heroes of this episode was Deputy fire chief Edward roach of Chelsea who was overcome by smoke and had to be rushed to a [Music] hospital the roof of City Hall had to be open to allow Flames to be drawn to a point where they could be controlled Brockton fire chief Edward Burell led the attack on the fire on the roof deputy chief capistran took over command of the operations at City Hall [Music] [Music] there were many Heroes that night fuel supplies were becoming critical some Pumpers had come so far they needed fuel on arrival fire companies that had been operating for several hours also needed refueling fuel had to be transferred from tank trucks and storage tanks to 5G cans and transported by truck to apparatus of the fire with flaming Brands and sparks flying through the air the job of refueling was extremely hazardous Charlie gaberino the mechanic of the Chelsea fire department was one of those who performed this job with courage and dedication on through the night the brave Army of New England firemen fought the configration additional companies were still needed to relieve exhausted Crews and broken down [Music] [Music] [Music] apparatus when Dawn came the smoking ruins of Chelsea resembled War ravage City of Europe [Music] [Music] firemen were needed to extinguish smoldering areas for 4 days while the fire was still burning local and state government and various relief organizations rushed to help the desperate flight of Chelsea residents made homeless or unemployed and those whose businesses were destroyed the Salvation Army established a food and clothing Center in a church on the very edge of the devastated area a Red Cross disaster Services truck toured the streets of Chelsea with a loud speaker advising the Spanish fire refugees the National Guard Armory for assistance Roa Governor Sergeant was on the scene and immediately ordered the state resources to provide relief for Chelsea Department of Public weal here is now moving checks out to people and we're trying to on an emergency basis now now take care of people through the Department of Commerce that is working with the industry and the industrialists who lost uh their properties uh the department of communities and Affairs are working in connection with housing uh mhfa the Massachusetts housing and Finance Agency has some buildings available for relocation but I think we really have two problems here one is the emergency uh matter of taking care of people and providing water at the hospital uh the other is the long range aspect and I've been discussing this with the mayor there's a Redevelopment project uh that we feel can be moved along it's it's very close to approval by the city uh I have the state agencies ready to move forward on this have you heard from the federal government at all regarding emergency assistance well I I've Vindicated to the president that uh this clearly was a an emergency and it was a we needed a disaster declaration Bernard judge and Rich officials of the Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency met in Chelsea with local and federal officials there they accomplished necessary fact finding and coordination needed for the Governor's formal request to the president for a disaster declaration the governor signed the letter request Monday afternoon the presidential disaster declaration for Chelsea was announced by the federal Disaster Assistance Administration Tuesday afternoon no less than 48 hours from the time the fire started establishing a national record for a disaster [Music] declaration the following morning Wednesday a One-Stop disaster assistant center was established at the Williams school Under the direction of the federal Disaster Assistance Administration [Music] supposed to set up [Music] here the fdaa coordinator of the center was assisted by Carl Salone and other staff members of the Massachusetts Civil Defense Agency and Reverend Larry French disaster coordinator for mayor Spelman thus all three levels of government were United in the effort to provide immediate relief to the distressed people in addition to making 1,000 people homeless the fire put 600 out of work but not for long the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce contacted a number of Industries and the response was wonderful industry reacted with numerous job offerings the state division of Employment Security set up a job bank of opportunities in the area I see you've applied for a position here as a machine operator yes sir all right Mr Roser I see by your application that you can handle a forklift is that correct yes sir I can how long have you driven a forklift the allout signal was sounded on Thursday 4 days after the first alarm the last fireman left the devastated Area 18 city blocks had been consumed Chelsea had survived a terrifying conflagration without a single fatality grateful for this miracle the days City struggled to capture some semblance of normality again it was a time for retrospection they knew the cause salvage yards a concentration of closely built woodframe tenement sections an inadequate water supply couple the ingredients for an inferno with certain conducive weather conditions a spark for ignition and a conflagration is inevitable realizing that it could happen again as it could happen in a number of other Chelsea vowed to push ahead on an urban renewal project an industrial park which will eliminate the potential for a massive fire the people knew what caused the configration they also knew what saved them the hundreds of firemen provided by Mutual Aid assistance a form of civil preparedness a tradition of the New England firefighter [Music] [Music]