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Date: 12/16/2021
LONGMEADOW – Longmeadow Fire Chief John Dearborn briefed the Select Board on the ongoing Maple Center Shopping Center fire investigation.
Dearborn presented still images taken from footage caught by the security camera at the gas station across the street from the plaza.
The first photo, taken 17 minutes before the first 911 calls came in, shows a thin plume of smoke rising from the roof above the Bottle Shop. By the time the first 911 call was made, by an employee at the station, footage shows flames coming from the roof.
While the first call was coming in, an employee at Longmeadow Salon called 911, as well. She had been in the shop with an early morning customer when a passerby alerted her to the fire. The first fire truck arrived just over five minutes after the fire was reported.
At the height of the fire, 8,000 gallons of water per minute were being sprayed onto the building.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but Dearborn said that it started in the attic space above the Bottle Shop and Armata’s Market, which he said was a “wide-open” common space.
The building did not have “adequate alarms” or a sprinkler system, Dearborn said, but explained it was not required to as it was built in 1960. He added, “We always knew this block was a challenge because of its construction.” A firestop above the salon was vital in stopping flames from traveling further through than they did.
Dearborn thanked mutual aid for responding and, especially for keeping that firestop intact.
One firefighter broke his hand fighting the blaze and two others had what Dearborn described as “a close call.” He said they “just missed the front of Armata’s – the sidewalls came down in one piece, narrowly missing two firefighters. Fortunately, they were young and quick and got out of the way.”
Select Board Clerk Josh Levine asked Dearborn if the alcohol in the liquor store contributed to the severity of the fire. The chief reported fire investigators and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which helped investigate the fire, told him that the alcohol “will contribute to a certain extent, but not as much as you might think,” because most liquor is only 6 to 8 percent alcohol.
Dearborn told the board that the liquid in the bottles heated up and exploded, causing bottle tops to shoot out of the fire and hit the firefighters. He said the parking lot was littered with them afterward.
Levine asked Dearborn if there were other buildings in town that were also “grandfathered” out of modern fire safety requirements. Most buildings are alarmed “in some fashion,” Dearborn said, but there are some other buildings that are in a similar condition.
Armata’s was the department’s primary concern. “I’ve played this fire through in my head a hundred times,” Dearborn said, adding the investment in alarms and sprinklers could have saved millions of dollars in loss.
The investigation is still open, however, Dearborn said he expects to wrap it up within the month.