Belmont Fire Log: Humming Sound Brings Out the Crew

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Defective part spoils dinner
July 20 just before 3:30 p.m., Engine 1 was sent to Longmeadow Road where a backyard chef could not close the valve on the propane tank of his grill. Fire crews successfully disconnected the tank from the grill without creating a leak. The cook was advised to exchange the faulty tank for a new one and notify the dealer of the malfunctioning valve.

Ummmmm, it’s nothing

On July 21 at a few minutes before noon, a crew from Engine 2 arrived at a two-family on Whitcomb Street to investigate what residents called a “humming” sound in the building. Checking all the household appliances and utilities that could create a “humming” sound, the company were unable to hear any “abnormal” sounds.

And there will be … fire

On July 21 at 8:22 p.m. firefighters arrived at a Clifton Street house for a reported “smoking driveway gate.” The homeowner told the arriving company that some debris had got caught under the lens of a landscape lighting which caught fire. She removed the offending debris and put out the blaze herself.

Smoker’s butt likely culprit 

On July 25 at a quarter past 2 p.m., an employee at the Starbucks Coffee in Cushing Square noticed that a small fire had erupted in the mulch near the establishment’s front door. The crew from Engine 1 brought the smoldering brush under control. The location is a favorite haunt for smokers to puff away before entering the store.

 

Belmont Blaze Damages Milton Street House

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A multi-alarm fire severely damaged a single-family home at 15 Milton St. on Monday afternoon, July 14.

According to the father of the home’s owner – who did not want to give his name – a workman painting in the garage of the two-story house built in 1930 heard the fire alarms and smelled a burning odor sometime after 2 p.m. He is reported to have found the finished attic full of smoke and reportedly saw flames. Despite using a fire extinguisher on the blaze, the conditions only got worse after which the worker shut down all the home’s systems and called 911.

According to Belmont Fire Chief David Frizzell, the department’s entire company arrived to find flames in-between the attic walls. A hole was cut into the roof to ventilate the smoke and firefighters pulled down interior walls to get to the fire. By 3:15 p.m., the blaze was out, and crews were searching for hot spots or any lingering flames in the structure.

While there is fire damage to the attic and water and smoke damage to the first and second floors, the 2,300 square-foot house is “very salvageable,” according to Frizzell.

The homeowner’s father said his son bought the house last October “and we just about finished painting and doing the house over.”

 

 

Marlboro Street Triple-Decker Destroyed in Three-Alarm Blaze

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A three-alarm fire that began just after midnight in a triple-decker at 58 Marlboro St. destroyed the century-old structure leaving the owner and two sets of tenants homeless, according to Belmont Fire Chief David Frizzell.

The nine residents of the building escaped the blaze uninjured.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and is under investigation, said Frizzell.

A 911 call came into BFD headquarters at 12:30 a.m., Wednesday, May 21, for a fire at the address near the Cambridge town line and Belmont Cemetery, Frizzell told the Belmontonian at the scene.

The blaze quickly turned into a inferno in the rear of the 3,850 square-foot building built in 1900 with heat so hot it melted the vinyl-siding of the house with the adjoining backyard and started fires in the adjacent structures.

At the height of the incident, seven engines and three ladder trucks fought the fire that was finally under control at 2:45 a.m.

“And we are still chasing hot spots now,” said Frizzell at 5:45 a.m.

The structure, in which the rear section has essentially burned away, “is a complete loss. There’s nothing that can be salvaged,” he noted.

Mutual aid in the form of fire apparatus from Cambridge and Watertown helped fight the blaze while Newton, Winchester and Somerville fire departments covered Belmont during the fire.

In addition, five private vehicles were destroyed in the flames.

“This was a pretty big fire,” said Frizzell who was still at the site this morning.