www.yourarlington.com/arlington-archives/safety/fire/19922-transcript-013022.html - YourArlington radio traffic article - added here 7/5/2024 - this is a minute by minute timeline of the fire - it took 40 minutes to find the victim
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Arlington Massahusetts is served by a fully paid fire department which typically has 15 people on duty in the fire stations 24/7/365 ... all firefighters are also trained as EMTs ..... stations and staffing are ......
Center Station aka HQ .... Engine 1 with 3 people + Ladder 1 with 3 people + C2 with 1 Deputy Chief / Shift Commander
Highland Station ... Engine 2 with 3 people + Rescue 1 with 2 people ... Rescue 1 is a 'fire ambulance'
park Circle Station ... Engine 3 with 3 people
===========================
archive.org/details/ma-arlington-2nd-at-54-medford-st-2022-01-22-0252-13276-36129 .... recordings of arlington fire department radio traffic at the fire ... 1/26/2022
=========================
Rough timeline from radio tape from Broadcastify
recording / tape starts at 352 am EST
1701 on tape / 409 am ... 1 beep ... this rings bell once in all 3 fire stations and turns on all lights in all 3 fire stations .. waking up all sleeping firefighters
(409 am .... dispatcher announces address and type of call to all stations over public address system ... this does not go over the airwaves ]
1750 on tape / 409 am ... Ladder 1 acknowledges the call
1811 / 410 am ... box 3512 transmitted 2 rounds ... this is sent out by the dispatchers at the police station / 911 center .... bells ring in all stations and beeps go out via radio at the same time .... signal might also be received by dispatchers in adjacent communities ... I am not sure if those connections are still active or not
411 am ... dispatcher announces via radio that call is at 54 Medford St and there is a report of smoke in the building
413 am ... dispatcher says party in apt 305 is on her porch and cant get out via her apt
413 am ... radio box 3512 received 1 round for zone 4 ... this is the first activation of the radio box ... iirc Zone 4 is for Floor 3 ... either someone has pulled a pull station on the 3rd floor, or a sprinkler activated, or a heat or smoke detector activated
414 am ... radio box activates a 2nd time ... dispatcher does not say anything about it ... nor was any info given when radio box activated the first time ... the 2 Arlington dispatchers are probably getting swamped with 911 calls
414 am ... some unit in bld on radio ... loud fire alarm system honks heard in background
415 am ... C2 at scene ... loud water gong can be heard in background ... this usually indicates that water is flowing thru the sprinkler system or thu the standpipe system ... the standpipe is a water main that runs up thru the building and the FD connects their hoses to it .... some standpipes are pressurized 24/7 ... some just fill up with water when an alarm is tripped ... some get filled with water by a FD pumper ... usually the first pumper at any hirise fire in the USA connects to the standpipe from outside the building and feeds water from a hydrant into the standpipe ... this is supposed to ensure adequate pressure for hose streams from floor 1 to floor 15 ish ... taller blds have fire pumps or water tanks installed on higher floors of the blds
415 am ... dispatcher says she lost contact with caller from 305
415 am ... engine 1 says thick smoke on floor 3
416 am ... C2 orders Eng 3 from park circle station to the fire ... radio box is received again
417 am ... "Ladder 1 alpha to C2 , we are in" ... not sure what that is about exactly ... maybe he is in bld or in apt ... ( 'ladder 1 alpha' is one of the firefighters on Ladder 1 ... 'ladder 1 bravo' would be the other firefighter .... 'ladder 1 portable' is the officer on ladder 1 ... 3 people on each rig ]
418 am ... radio box received again
418 am ... C2 reports a "working fire" and orders mutual aid to cover the stations .... (off duty chief officers will be alerted ... maybe medics and 1 ambulance will be sent ... cambridge eng 4 from porter square goes to highland station ... somerville eng 6 and lad 3 from teele square go to arlington fd hq]
419 am ... radio box received again ... dispatchers never announced the zones on any of these boxes ... detectors might have been going off all over the building
420 am ... radio box received again
421 am ... C2 requests a mbta bus to the scene
421 am .. Lad 1 is yelling for highrise pak to apt 305 ... C2 says eng 2 is on the way in with the hirise pak (which is just a couple lengths of hose and a nozzle afaik]
(continuing the writeup jan 26 2022 ... this is not a 100% complete transcript at this time ... this is maybe 80% of the radio messages ... times and messages are approximate .... a word for word transcript will take some time to type up]
426 am ... C2 sees heavy fire from delta side ... (not sure what side he means ... Side A is usually the front ... and then around the bld clockwise ... but I am not sure which side is Side A on this bld ... sometimes an incident commander at an oddly shaped bld will declare that "Side A is the Main St side" or some such]
426 am ... C2 wants line from Eng 3 to rear ... and C2 strikes 2nd alarm .... (the 2nd alarm will bring 3 or 4 more engines and 1 more ladder to scene ... these are all units from outside Arlington ... the Arlington dispatchers have to contact all of those units and make sure they are heading to the fire]
426 am ... some message about the 2nd floor
427 am ... C2 wants Eng 3 on side by church and school
427 am ... maybe Eng 1 driver reported that he was ready to charge the standpipe
429 am ... Eng 3 laying feeder line from hydrant ..... (AFD uses 3 or 4 sizes of hoses ... 1.75 inch attack lines + 2.5 inch diameter heavy attack lines + 4 inch feeder lines that carry water from hydrants to engines (or from engines to aerial ladders] + maybe short 5 inch hard rubber black hoses for drafting from ponds]
429 am ... someone wants standpipe charged
430 am ... mention of light smoke
430 am ... Eng 2 orders Eng 1 to charge standpipe
431 am ... some yell
432 am ... Eng 3 talking to his backstep firefighter .... (thats an old term ... that is Eng 3 Bravo iirc ... 3 bravo was maybe at the hydrant connecting the 4 inch hose]
433 am ... big line parking lot
434 am ... eng 3 line 100 feet short ... maybe confusion about various hose lines
435 am ... c2 wants eng 1 officer on delta side
437 am ... cambridge engine 4 is looking for orders from C2
437 am ..... dispatcher reports people in wheelchairs trapped on floor 7
438 am ... medford engine 2 requests orders from C2 ... cemetery is mentioned .... (I saw a photo with Medford Eng 2 parked in the cemetery]
439 am ... Eng 3 pump told to charge the 2.5 inch line ... (this line can flow 250 gallons er minute and is probably being sprayed from outside the bld into a window]
441 am ... medford ladder 1 at arlington hq station in arlington center
442 am ... charge 1.75 inch line
443 am ... fire knocked down in apt ..... (meaning the big flames have been extinguished ... maybe there is some smoldering still going on ish}
446 am .... winchester eng 4 at highland fire sta
446 am ... Somerville C3 requests ladder company to fire floor to search
448 am ... Somerville C3 reports a code coming down the stairs ... need ALS in the lobby ..... ('Code' is a person in cardiac arrest ... 40 minutes to find the victim ... not good .... if you ever listen to Boston FD you will hear them conducting primary and secondary searches ... this is SOp for them]
450 am ... dispatcher says that ALS is at the scene
450 am ...c2 requests ambulances
451 am ... C1 is at scene (arlington fire chief]
452 am ... "p2 on from our base" .... ( this means that armstrong paramedic unit 2 is responding from woburn ... which doesnt jive with the 450 am message exactly ... ????]
453 am ... 3 people trying to talk at once
==============================
1/30/2022
"doubles" happen when 2 or more people try to talk on the radio at the same time ..... there were many many many doubles at this fire ... imho the cause is poor radio procedures ..... huge efforts have to be made to drill constantly in very precise radio procedures in order to prevent "doubles" ... there is a reason why in WW2 movies you hear the term "over" used by radio operators ... doubles are actually a huge problem for most emergency services but they are seldom talked about ... newer radio systems make it impossible to "double" but there is a risk that critical messages will be blocked .... hard to know if any of the "doubles" at this fire had any negative consequences
1/30/2022
there were several ways to get water on this fire ..... 0. use water can fire extinguisher ... 1. run hose from standpipe into fire apartment ... 2, run hose from pumper up ground ladder and into apt .... 3. run hose from pumper up stairs to apt ..... 4. squirt water thru window from ground outside apt ... 5. run hose line up aerial and into apt .... 6. flow water from ladder pipe into apt ..... I suspect that they did #4 initially
================
continuing with radio traffic transcript
from 452 am recording
p3 on from base ..... armstrong medic unit
ALS heading in per Somerville C3 ... he might be referring to Cambridge Squad 4 ... they are firefighter / paramedics ... none of the Arlington firefighters are paramedics
Cambridge Squad 401 talks about the 3rd floor ... this is one of the 2 people on Cambridge Squad 4
458 am ... primary search is clear on floor 3 per Somerville C3
458 am ... p3 at scene ... not sure where they came from ... if they came from woburn it only took 5 minutes vs the usual 15 minutes
C1 wants any other ambulances to stage / park at arlington catholic parking lot
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"Engine 3 pump" = "Engine 3" ... this is very bad radio procedure actually because "Engine 3" is 99% of the time the officer on Engine 3 not the "pump operator" ... unless something else is going on here ... on the daily radio test at 8 am they test mobiles ("Engine 3"] and then they test the portable radios ("Engine 3" + "Engine 3 alpha" + "Engine 3 Bravo"] .... as you can see there is room for confusion there because there are 2 different "Engine 3"s ...... I think the 'alpha' radio is usually carried by the driver / pump operator .... so the matching scheme typically is ..... for the portable radios .... "Engine 3" is the officer ... "Engine 3 alpha" is the driver / pump operator .... "Engine 3 bravo" is the backstep person / firefighter / hydrant man / least senior person on the truck
Note 1 ... just about every FD in Massachusetts has a different scheme for their portable radio IDs
Note 2 ... the portable radios typically flash a ID on the dispatcher's radio console and quite often there is no direct relationship between the electronic ID and the verbal ID that the firefighters use
Note 3 .... Cambridge uses Engine 400, Engine 401, Engine 402 as their IDs ... Boston uses Engine 1, Engine 1 pump, Engine 1 Hydrant, and Engine 1 Nozzle iirc .... FDNY uses Engine 1, Engine 1 chauffeur, Engine 1 control, Engine 1 door, etc lol I forget what they use ... they have 5 or 6 folks on each pumper and they have standardized names for everyone and all their separate specific jobs at the fire scene ... fdny also has rules that ensure the electronic IDs on the radios match the firefighters who are using them
but I digress
==========
back to the radio traffic
457 am ... distress signal from radio D141 per dispatcher ... no one ever figures out who that radio belongs to ... no one ever asks ... very weird ..... could be some hacker on the system ... seem to remember that happening once or twice in the last 20 years on various FD radio systems around Boston ... not hard for a rogue radio repair type person to do ... you just need a portable radio and a computer with the right program to set up the radio to send an emergency alarm ... that emergency alarm should have been heard coming over the radio channel as multiple clicks or honks
459 am ... mention of "Interior Command" ... maybe was Somerville C3 ... the only other Chiefs at the scene were Arlington C1 and Cambridge Division 2 .... "Interior Command" is standard USA fire terminology ... often there will be an announcement on the radio that Chief so and so is now Interior Command ... which indicates to the interior firefighters they should now take orders from Interior Command not the Incident Commander
504 am ... Arlington C1 finds out about the mayday
504 am ... C1 reports that as of 5 minutes ago the ambulance was still at the scene working the code
box 5312 again ... over the pAR check / accountability / rollcall ..... rollcalls can be very hard to do .. the crews are often split up and scattered all over the scene
mention of Firefighter Mansfield
512 am ... 2ndary search on floor 2 is complete ... (primary search is a quick search ... 2ndary search is a more thorough search]
515 am ... someone in mask in some apt .. fire under control
515 am ...C1 requests AHA maintenance to the scene
520 am ... no smoke on floor 4 ... no extension of fire to apt 405 ... no one on floor 4 ..... ( in a fire like this, the people usually in the greatest danger are in the adjacent apts, and in the apts directly above the fire ... also the smoke can go to the top floor and be very heavy there ]
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Feb 1 2022
yourarlington published the fire radio transcript yesterday ... 1100 hits as of 7 am today ..... (as of 9 pm on Feb 9 2022 the article has 1,515 hits]
Feb 1 2022
info from the Somerville FD radio tape from broadcastify .. the 414 am tape from 1/22/2022 ..... 427 am ... both Eng 6 and Lad 3 told to go to Arlington's 2nd alarm ... it sounded like both officers were being woken up from bed ... (there was a call from somerville to arlington on 'metrofire white' (483.2875R radio channel] around this time ... I think that somerville was going to ask Arlington if they wanted Som E6 and Som L3 to cover at HQ on the working fire ... but then the 2nd alarm was ordered so Somerville ended up making the dispatch direct to the fire entirely skipping any mention of coverage ..... 416 am Som E6 reports they are switching to the Arlington channel ... they were probably reaching the Arlington border at that point .... 417 am Somerville Eng 1 asks the Som dispatcher to open the Eng 6 door ... apparently Som E1 did a moveup to Som E6 quarters in Teele Square .... 420 am Som Ladder 3 reports they are at the Arlington fire ..... 421 am Som C3 checks if Arl Ch 1 is the fireground channel or some such
Feb 1 2022
Manpower utilization at the fire upon initial arrival .... probably should have gone this way
Engine 1 officer ... to 3rd floor after getting master key from Knox box on floor 1 and checking fire alarm panel
Engine 1 firefighter .... with Eng 1 officer
Engine 1 driver ... not in scba .... connect hose from pumper to standpipe connection on exterior of bld and then connect hose from hydrant to pumper .... remains at pump panel to insure water delivery into bld at all times
Ladder 1 officer ... raise ground ladder to 3rd floor balconey
Ladder 1 firefighter ... with Ladder 1 officer
Ladder 1 driver .... get Ladder 1 into position or don scba and go into bld
C2 ... do 360 walkaround of bld checking conditions or check fire alarm panel for indications of detector activations, water flows, etc
Engine 2 officer .... go into bld with hirise pack and pry bar
Engine 2 firefighter ... with Eng 2 officer ...with thermal camera
Engine 2 driver ... assist Eng 1 driver with hose connections ... then don scba and go into bld
Rescue 1 A ... don scba ... run hoseline into bld or assist with floor 3 ops as directed by C2
Rescue 1 B ... same as Rescue 1 A
Engine 3 arrived a little later and apparently laid a 4 inch supply line from a hydrant and then ran a 2.5 inch attack hose to the exterior of the bld
Engine 3 officer .... pull 2.5 inch dry hose toward bld
Engine 3 firefighter ... connect 4 inch hose to hydrant and wait for order to fill the line / turn on hydrant
Engine 3 driver .... not in scba ... connect 4 inch hose to his pump and then supply water to the 2.5 inch attack line ... stay at pump to insure water delivery at all times
Feb 1 2022
the other day on the Arlington Email list someone said that the fire report made no mention of a tipped over space heater ... what fire report was she referring to?
Feb 1 2022
the '10 alarm box card' for Arlington from 2019 is online .... 1st, 2nd, and 3rd alarms are blank ... except for a Cambridge Engine to the fire on the 2nd alarm as RIT / mayday team ... 2nd alarms and 3rd alarms usually baffle me in arlington .... I am not sure if they have a SOp that spells out exactly who is to go where on the 2nd and 3rd alarms .....
I think the general dispatching scheme is ... the 'first alarm' gets 2 engines plus 1 ladder plus 1 rescue plus C2 .... plus a 2nd rescue if available ... or plus an Armstrong BLS ambulance if no rescue is available .... plus the police .... plus a paramedic truck if there is reported injuries or trapped victim(s] ... the "working fire" gets a 3rd engine and 1 or 2 offduty chiefs and notification of gas company and electric company; plus 2 mutual aid engines and 1 mutual aid ladder to fill in at arlington fire stations .... the "2nd alarm" is probably 3 mutual aid engines and 1 mutual aid ladder to the fire ... these will probably be the coverage units from the working fire ... so they get rerouted to the fire and 2 more mutual aid engines and 1 more mutual ad ladder moves up to arlington fire stations ... note park circle fire station is never covered by mutual aid units ... just hq and highland get covered ..... 3rd alarm is probably the same as the 2nd alarm; 3 more engines and 1 ladder to the fire plus 2 engines and 1 ladder to cover .....
Arlington FD no longer calls in off duty staff to work on these serious fires .. they used to do that 20 or 30 years ago
Note ... when someone calls 911 and reports a fire, the dispatcher activates the 'first alarm' ... the 'working fire', '2nd' and '3rd' alarms are only activated / struck / rung / dispatched upon the orders of a FD member ... every FD in the USA follows this policy .... LOL .... 99% of USA FDs follow this policy .... there are some FDs that allow a dispatcher to transmit a 2nd alarm on their own authority .. like if they are getting endless 911 calls that a jetliner just took out an entire neighborhood
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Feb 6 2022
AHA Board had special meeting on Feb 2 ... they added electrical improvements at 54 Medford St to their capital plan
There was a meeting at 54 Medford St for tenants about the fire ... 4 Winslow St will get a meeting also
Why didnt the sprinkler system put out the fire at 54 Medford St?
The radio transcript article at yourArlington.com now has 1463 hits
made a few minor changes to wording of text above ... to increase clarity
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Feb 7 2022
what should have happened
fire breaks out .... someone throws glass of water on fire ... fire goes out
or
fire breaks out .... apartment occupant goes out on balcony and calls 911 .... heat detector activates .... alarms sound throughout building ... sprinkler head activates and kills fire
or
fire breaks out .... apartment occupant goes out on balcony and calls 911 .... heat detector activates .... alarms sound throughout building ... sprinkler head activates and does not kill fire for some unknown reason ...... someone takes hoseline into apartment and kills the fire
or
fire breaks out .... apartment occupant goes out on balcony and calls 911 .... heat detector activates .... alarms sound throughout building ... sprinkler head activates and does not kill fire for some unknown reason ...... someone takes hoseline into apartment and does not kill the fire for some unknown reason .... a 2.5 inch hoseline is flowed thru window from outside and kills the fire
Feb 7 2022
www.yourarlington.com/housing-authority/19957-special-020722.html .... aha will replace all electrical panels in 54 medford st ... state fire marshal report is still pending ... and more background info on 54 medford st
tonight at selectboard meeting the town manager said that the FD did an "amazing response" to the fire with bravery
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Feb 9 2022
youtu.be/_FSZM5z-30A ... Arlington Housing Authority Board Meeting .... January 18 2022 .... 1:00:00 .. we ensure the safety of the tenants ..... 1:32:00 ... end of the meeting with laughs all around ... the fatal fire at 54 Medford St was 4 days later
Feb 9 2022
On the recording of the Oct 20 2021 AHA Board Meeting at acmi.tv on You Tube ... at 40:00 on the recording ... pam H says that it took the fire department 10 minutes to respond to a call at 4 Winslow
On the recording of the Nov 17 2021 AHA Board Meeting at acmi.tv on You Tube ... at 35:14 on the recording ... pam H says that the police never responded to a call at 4 Winslow regarding an 'unauthorized' visitor
afaik there was never any followup discussion at any aha board meetings regarding these items
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Feb 10 2022
The New York City Fire Department has been publishing a magazine for maybe near 100 years. The magazine is called 'WNYF'. Often they would have articles about major incidents in the city. All of these articles always ended with a segment called Lessons Learned. Maybe one of the greatest teaching tools from any FD in the world. www.fdnyfoundation.org/initiatives/training-support/wnyf-magazine/
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Feb 21 2022
We have not seen nor heard any additional information about the fire at 54 Medford St. The Feb 16 2022 AHA Board meeting mentioned that $40K to $50K had been raised at the Council of Aging fund to aid the fire victims. Jack Nagle mentioned that all remaining residents at 54 Medford St were moved to Town Hall for 1 day as the electrical panels at 54 Medford St were tested. The panels tested OK. We have no indication that Arlington FD is working to immediately improve their firefighting skills. No media news and no radio traffic.
There was a 2nd alarm fire on White St last night. Seemed to be trouble with Engine 2 laying a hydrant line vs running an attack line. No primary searches were mentioned. The police did report on the police radio channel that everyone was out of the fire bld and the 2 adjacent homes. Working fire signal was actually transmitted by a cop. very weird but good lol. Not much different than the 54 Medford St fire but less doubles and less radio traffic ... it was less of a fire.
Feb 21 2022
www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/23784819/bridget-m-doyle .... obituary for the woman who died in the fire
Feb 21 2022
this is a 28 page generic standard operating plan for a highrise fire ... as you can see it is quite involved
Feb 21 2022
www.phoenix.gov/firesite/Documents/074725.pdf
6 page highrise sop for phoenix arizona ... everyone has a different scheme for handling highrise fires
Feb 21 2022
there was a fire in maybe Sao paulo back around 1980 iirc ... took out 3 or 4 floors near the top of a 30 story building .... maybe there was a report in FIRE Magazine from the UK .... they sent 1 fireman back to the station to get the 125 foot snorkel because they did not bring it to the fire initially ... maybe he rode a bike or took a taxi back to the station lol .... the total response was 25 firemen iirc ... they fashioned some system of spraying water from the stairwells onto the burning floors ... maybe they used metal plates as heat shields ... anyone remember that article? the building was saved
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Feb 22 2022
Was the fire in public housing in Arlington that resulted in death due to a hoarding situation? Has the AHA subsidized hoarders throughout Arlington? By that I mean are tenants in private housing with hoarding issues issued housing vouchers?
Are their apartments inspected for safety?
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Real Arlington News has been told that there were/are electricians replacing all the electric baseboard heating prior to this Fire .
Arlington, MA|Neighbor Post|Jan 27|Edited
STORY UPDATE : Real Arlington News has been updated that Chestnut Manor Resident Margaret Sheehan has been released from the hospital. I would like to thank my Resident Reporter Paul S….
from https://patch.com/massachusetts/arlington/posts
Feb 22 2022
www.yourarlington.com/housing-authority/19957-special-020722.html ... electrical upgrades approved at 54 Medford St at special Feb 2 meeting
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Feb 23 2022
arlingtonhousing.org/documents/Mins-2022-2Special.pdf .... aha board minutes for Feb 2 2022 special meeting ... Mr. Nagle explained the need for the Capital Improvement Plan budget revision for the electrical upgrade at Chestnut Manor and that the AHA will be requesting to use the DHCD Emergency Reserve to fund it. Upon a motion made by Mr. Mitropoulos and seconded by Mr. Talanian it was unanimously voted to approve the Capital Improvement Plan Budget Revision for the Electrical Upgrade at Chestnut Manor.
At 4 Winslow today .. where I live ... bunch of drilling noises as they install automatic fire door closers on the swing doors in the elevator lobbies .... one of the tenants told me that the Fire Department thought we already had them ... what we had for 23 years at least was simple magnets and wood chocks ... but I dont know of any incidents in 23 years that the chocks made any difference in any fire situation ... 4 Winslow is a 13 story highrise with elderly and disabled tenants ... 99% disabled in reality
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March 3 2022
still no news ... unknown how fire really started ... unknown why sprinklers did not extinguish fire ... unknown why victim not found for 40 minutes ... no sign that Arlington FD is doing anything to improve their performance ... no word if workers were replacing heaters before the fire ... kinda thinking that some bureaucrats might be facing murder charges ... pretty sure that in other countries, people would be in jail already .... check the AHA minutes over the last 20 years ... see how many hits you get for 'emergency', 'fire', or 'ambulance' .... maybe zero ... even though ambulances probably respond to AHA properties 300 times annually
poor disabled folks just dont count in Arlington Mass
March 3 2022
permit pulled for $74,000 of interior renovations at 54 medford st by stephen caron on Feb 21 2022 ... see www.arlingtonma.gov/departments/inspectional-services/view-building-permits
==========
Address Issued TC Permit Description Owner Contractor Value Fee
54 Medford St
02-24-2022 GR89 Water heater ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY Powderhouse Plumbing
02-24-2022 PR130 Water heater ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY Powderhouse Plumbing
02-21-2022 CC103 Dumpster ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY Stephen Caron 24
02-21-2022 BC242 Interior Renovation ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY Stephen Caron 73,867 1,480
01-24-2022 ER24 Bathroom, hand dryer, horn strobe ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY McCrea Electric 35,400 102
01-11-2022 PR33 half bathroom ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY EV Mech 3,000
54-205 Medford St 12-31-2020 ER1102 Apartment renovations ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY J. Gerard 500
54-712 Medford St 12-31-2020 ER 1101 Apartment renovations ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY J. Gerard 500
54-2 Medford St 12-22-2020 PR708 replace sink ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY AHA 500
54Medford St 09-03-2020 ER705 Wire for door openers ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITYJoe Gerard 1,000
04-18-2019 GC223 2 boilers Arlington Housing Authority Powderhouse Plg 53,700 1,612
04-18-2019 PC283 water piping Arlington Housing Authority Powderhouse Plg 1,500 50
03-01-2019 B 290 installation of new fire alarm system Arlington Housing Authority Laracy Electrical Contractors
02-15-2019 ER138 New fire alarm upgrade Arlington Housing Authority Laracy Electrical 212,300 6,369
11-26-2018 ER1156 Wire for 100 amp 3 phase dryer Arlington Housing Authority Joe Gerard
01-09-2018 PR71 install two sewage ejectors Arlington Housing Authority Araujo Bros 66,500 1,995
12-18-2017 EC1108 Power wiring for sewage ejector pump.Arlington Housing Authority M- V Electrical Contractors 3,750 120
06-12-2017 ER503 Retrofit common area lighting. Arlington Housing Authority MDP Inc 23,000
04-14-2016 BC456 concrete repair to balconies Arlington Housing Authority Chapman 163,065 3,260
03-09-2016 ER211 Wiring for (16) LED lights in deck posts.Arlington Housing Authority Goneau Electric 4,000 120
12-18-2015 BR1947 addition of accessible entrance and deck Arlington Housing Authority Lambrian Construction 147,000
10-21-2014 ER992 Install one hundred addressable smoke detctors.Arlington Housing AuthorityJ. Gerard
03-19-2014 BR231 strip and re- roof Arlington Housing Authority Capeway Roofing Systems, INC 175,200 2,504
06-01-2012 ER413 Wire underground trnch for nine pole lights.Arlington Housing Authority J Gerard 1,000 50
05-15-2012 ER364 Wire new fixtures on poles Arlington Housing Authority Tech Electric 8,200 246
02-22-2011 BR87 demo portion of chimney/ pour slabs in basement Arlington Housing Authority Construction Dynamics 20,000 400
02-14-2011 ER75 wire new boilers Arlington Housing Authority DMH Electric 5,000 150
01-11-2011 ER21 Install radio masterbox Arlington Housing Authority L.W Bills
12-22-2010 GR648 two boilers Arlington Housing Authority Moran lg 40,000 1,200
12-22-2010 PR991 two water tanks/ water oiping Arlington Housing Authority Charles Moran 20,000 600
12-30-2009 ER1157 lighting refit jhallways/ stairwells Arlington Housing AuthorityTech Electric 10,000 300
06-17-2008 ER538 install generators AHA Brite- Lite Electrical 112,700 2,930
03-11-2008 ER213 elevator electrical upgrade Arlington Housing Authority Frank Stewart 10,200 265
07-07-2000 BR523 concrete repairs of corners and fascia Arlington Housing Ace Restorations 310,800
________________________________
Selected: StreetNum = 54 and StreetName like 'Medford St'
Sorted by: IssueDate desc, StreetName, StreetNum, StreetNumSuffix, PermitYear, PermitNum
Listed: 34 permits with an estimated value of $1,502,682
and collected fees of $23,777
Direct questions or comments to
InspectionalServices@town.arlington.ma.us +1.781.316.3390
======================================================================
March 28 2022
no major news ... still many unanswered questions .... FD was at Drake doing training one day recently ... no evidence of any FD training at 4 Winslow ... this news article www.yourarlington.com/arlington-archives/safety/fire/19899-fatal-012222.html says that the "injured woman, identified as Margaret Sheehan, vice president of the Chestnut Manor Tenant's Association, has been released from the hospital, " ... vice prez of tenant association ... interesting ... and the fire victim was a former prez of the tenant association iirc ... unknown if fire pump at 4 Winslow has been fixed yet ... there have been false alarms at 4 Winslow and 54 Medford ... 4 winslow was a roof smoke detector ... 54 Medford was a pull station iirc ... just E1 and L1 were sent ... no box transmitted ... maybe was a trouble alarm ... is there a policy that says only send 1 engine and 1 ladder to trouble alarms? ... do you know what a 'trouble alarm' is? lol
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March 31 2022
www.yourarlington.com/housing-authority/20139-aha-032322.html .... board meeting was held march 23 ish ... apparently no mention of the fatal fire at all ... meeting is not posted at acmi on YouTube yet but the BOS meeting is posted
the arlington fd scanner feed at broadcastify has a 15 minute delay today ... unknown why
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April 6 2022
still no aha meetings from feb nor march posted on YT ... no update on any of the other myriad issues ... no fire calls at any aha sites in the last week maybe ... have not been paying close attention .... Town just elected a new moderator
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April 11 2022
AHA has gone dark again ... no updates to website in weeks ... no board meeting posted by acmi.tv on youtube since Jan 18 2022
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Aril 18 2022
no new info about the fire ... still many unanswered questions ... maybe no report from state fire marshall yet either ... if they are doing a report
selectboard made no mention of the fire at their latest meeting
sophie brady who died in a 2008 fire at chestnut manor was also a former president of the tenant association
on the bright side ... the "paramedic 3" unit seems to be handling more calls in arlington now ... unknown why they disappeared for the last year or two
=============
where did we see the comment that people were still smoking at 54 medford st ... was it in the yourarlington article? it is not in boston globe articles
and john griffin said that a smoker caused a fire at 54 medford in 2020 ish .. that was in the aha minutes ... check further (see below]
here is some of the info ..... Cigarette sparked fire in 2020
In 2020, Chestnut Manor’s third floor was also the scene of a fire started by a cigarette. No injuries were reported, although there was water damage to the building. The housing authority passed a nonsmoking policy in 2015, which banned smoking in the units and all common areas both inside and outside the property. A violation of the no-smoking policy is considered a breach of the lease and can result in an eviction.
However, a resident who asked to remain anonymous, said that the ban is poorly enforced, with residents still smoking in their units.
from www.yourarlington.com/housing-authority/19904-aha-012422.html
========================
4/20/2022
info from the december 2020 aha minutes
..................
Mr. Griffin said that there is no assigned parking at Cusack Terrace.
Project Updates
We had a fire at Chestnut Manor on the third floor. Someone threw a
cigarette butt down the chute. We had water damage. Hot water tanks
have to be replaced. There were no injuries. Our staff and the fire
department did a great job.
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4/20/2022
no mention of the Jan 22 2022 fire at 54 Medford St at tonights Select Board meeting
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5/22/2022
at recent aha board meeting on may 19 2022 ... near beginning jack nagle mentioned that repair work was underway ... no other mention during meeting
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6/6/2022
web.archive.org/web/20220606163707/https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/article/21263015/best-practices-for-fighting-fires-in-highrise-buildings?o_eid=3559J3070834F0H&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C3559J3070834F0H&oly_enc_id=3559J3070834F0H .... lots of info here about using standpipes at a highrise fire
May 19 2022 aha bard meeting ... jack nagle reported that repairs are still underway at the damaged apartments at Chestnut Manor ... it is known that it is unknown when tenants can move into the repaired apartments ... we checked the tape and this is the jist of what was said ... we can always go back and get the word by word words if necessary
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6/18/2022
at the June 16 2022 AHA Board meeting it was reported by Jack Nagle that 18 units were damaged or destroyed in the fire ... mostly by water damage ... repairs might not be completed until Jan 2023 .... that might be 30% of the units in the building ... all damaged units are being completely stripped bare ... even the walls are being stripped out
jeez what a disaster ... all from 1 little heater fire ... seems impossible
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7/1/2022
web.archive.org/web/20220701160413/https://www.yourarlington.com/housing-authority/20517-aha-062722.html ..... aha is replacing electrical panels ... the state fire marshal report on the Jan 22 2022 fatal fire at Chestnut Manor has not been released yet
publicsafetyusa.blogspot.com/2022/07/re-arlington-mass-fire-at-chestnut-manor.html .... an overview from zerg90 of the housing authority and their ability to safely operate public housing
this screed has been eternally archived at web.archive.org/web/20220701164526/https://sites.google.com/site/arlingtonmassachusetts/home/2022/fire-at-54-medford-st-jan-22-2022
note .... 1800 hours ... lots of cigarette smoke in my apartment today ... a change is gonna come
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8/18/2022
YourArlington got a copy of the State Fire Marshal report on the fire - it basically says nothing.
AHA cancelled their Aug 17 2022 board meeting - no reason given
Nothing seems to have changed at AHA nor AFD. Same policies and procedures in place. People still smoking in the buildings. Can smell cigarette smoke in my apartment right now.
A change is gonna come. LOL. Looks like I need to force the issue very very hard. Wish me luck.