Quincy fire disaster averted at senior housing high rise

– News about Quincy MA from Quincy Quarry News.

Thankfully not a towering inferno
A Quincy Quarry News Phire team photo

Quincy fire disaster averted at Granite Place, a 269 unit senior housing high rise.

Quincy Quarry was apparently the first and perhaps only news medium on the scene of a potential disaster scene this morning. The Quarry also has exclusive pictures and videos of the response effort.

At approximately 8:54 AM this morning, the call went out on the City of Quincy emergency response radio that there was a medical emergency at a unit on the ninth floor of a senior housing high rise near the Star Market.

Within moments, a second call went out that there was smoke coming out of a sixth-floor window and which was then quickly followed by word that burning objects had apparently been tossed out of the building from the site of the smoke.

Clearly, there was some initial confusion.

Rolling out equipment
An old Columbia Pictures image

Radio chatter indicated that the fire department personnel who responded to the medical service call already underway were unaware of the smoke and burning objects apparently tossed out of a unit on the sixth floor.

Quincy Quarry’s crack-addled Disastrous Accident Response Team (“DART”) quickly and correctly ascertained that a firefighter outside the building and who was attending to the unit dispatched to the scene spotted the smoke and had separately reported into Quincy’s emergency services communication center.

Quickly, additional alarms were then called, a considerable number of fire response assets rolled to the scene as well as calls made to adjacent communities to initiate mutual aid assistance protocols.

Considerable response to the emergencies scene
A Quincy Quarry News photo

Given the considerable activity at the scene as well as the potential need to implement an evacuation of residential highrise housing several hundred seniors, out of respect to the command officer on the scene, Quincy Quarry did not bother seeking an interview with any senior first responders on the scene.

At the same time, the Quarry DART members quickly surmised that the smoke and fire event on the sixth floor was most likely a smoking in bed sort of fire per its close monitoring of the emergency radio chatter.

Specifically, emergency response personnel on the scene reported having had to neutralize (at least, ed.) a smoldering mattress.

Again, while the initial response was somewhat confused given two all but concurrent emergencies occurring at the same venue, having already rolled a unit to the scene for a medical call shortly before the fire call hit the fan surely improved the effectiveness of the overall response.

Giant wooden statue of a man burning at Burning Man
A Nevada State Personnel Watch image

Even so, given that disasters have long been believed to happen in threes, one can only assume that local first responders will be on edge in the wake of this morning’s two near disasters until the third shoe drops.

Further, given that a number of large mid-rise wood-frame multi-unit residential projects are under construction as well as pending around Quincy, including a six-building project by a national real estate developer with a history of both a major local fire and huge as well as a controversial inferno event in New Jersey, one can only wonder why the City of Quincy has largely, if not all but completely, moved away from encouraging the use innately fire-resistant steel frame and brick facade construction materials.

After all, steel and brick were used not only at Granite Place – the place of today’s quickly controlled fire emergency – but also at both Monroe Place and 10 Faxon in Quincy Center, the most recent large residential projects completed in the urban setting that is Quincy Center.

Expect Quincy Quarry to continue with its hard-hitting and long-ongoing hyper-local coverage of local fires.

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