**EARLY ARRIVAL 6th-ALARM** MAJOR Fire Destroys Faith Lutheran Church on Easter Cambridge,MA Box 285
255,123
Published 2023-04-10
Location: 311 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. (Faith Lutheran Church)
Fire Throughout a Church
2nd Alarm on arrival for heavy smoke.
For those wondering how this fire spread so quickly:
If you look closely at the start of the video, they had 3 lines run (appear to be 2 1/2). One thru the side door of the rectory and 2 thru the front door of the church. The fire was in the basement and was well involved upon arrival. A building like this - heavy timber construction - built in the 1800s - is very difficult to put out once the fire gains a foothold. (Think of there Notre Dame fire in Paris for reference.) You can see it running up the wall in the (2-3 or B-C) corner of the steeple, however this is an incredibly hard area to reach. They tried their best - I think 4-5 lines interior when they switched to exterior ops. The building construction just worked against them.
• Cambridge, MA 6th Alarm Church Fire D...
That ^ audio ^ has both the dispatch and fireground reports. It shows that they went interior with “big lines” right away but encountered a heavy body of fire inside.
All Comments (21)
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Am so sad to see this. Love to all from Scotland x
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I live in the condo building behind this church. The most concerning thing to me is that there was no sound of smoke alarms going off after the fire started. The fire had to be called in when my neighbors smelled and saw the smoke. My family wasn’t at home at the time. We are VERY VERY thankful for the responders who kept the fire isolated to the church and it didn’t spread to our building about 150 feet away. ❤❤❤
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Old church buildings present many different challenges from a firefighting perspective. Steep roofs that are high up, big open attic spaces, nooks and crannys that are difficult to access, no firestops between steeples and attic spaces, lots of dried out lumber, plaster walls and ceilings, large HVAC air handlers that are either running or start during a fire that helps to spread the fire, no sprinklers.
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That inferno did not want to be tamed. Excellent vid, as always, Nick. Be safe out there!
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I feel for the congregants; we lost our Church fifty years ago. Our FD did their best but was fighting a losing battle from the get-go. Our church is constructed from 18" sandstone, which held the heat of the fire in. The fire started in the basement late at night, and the temperatures were in the negative 15 to twenty-degree range. We were able to rebuild, but finding a matching sandstone proved difficult, and our pipe-organ cost $100,000 more than the insurance company would pay. Thankfully, one of our congregants stepped up and paid the difference. If you're not a member of a church, you can't imagine the grief of watching helplessly as your church home burns.
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🌟🌟🌟🌟EPIC VIDEO🌟🌟🌟🌟 I'm from Cape Ann originally, and I'm always so sad to see tragedies like this occurring. Such a BEAUTIFUL church, too 😢
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Wow what a beautiful building that may be over 100 years old. Such a shame.. This was a tough battle for the fire fighters.
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Always glad to see when a department remembers what deck guns are for.
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This is one of the best fire I have ever seen you had excellent shots of what was going on and what they were up against. Would like to see a follow up and any information on how it started. Thank you for the video.
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Really sad to see a fine old edifice destroyed. Mr. Medley was absolutely right about the challenges of fire fighting in old churches like this. Nic job on the video.
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Churches sometimes have large roof spaces; I wish they'd put dividers into these to slow down any fire, or else the fire can rampage through the whole roof. As happened at Notre Dame.
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I always feel sad for the community around a place of worship when it burns down. It does not matter what religion or 'flavour' of belief is being followed. Places of worship are important because they help cement society. I'm not going into historical issues here, that's not my point. For many around the world, places of worship are at the center of daily life. Any loss is tragic.
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Man that fire sure must have put the municipal water system to a test.
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Interesting to see the greenish color of the flames as the fire begins to burn the copper flashing over the slate tiles on the roof of the steeple.
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Never seen so much water have such little effect on the fire, that was crazy
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Fantastic footage!
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Amazing video. I was listening live when it happened.
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Sucks to see such an old church go up, but it was basically a perfectly designed fire. My favorite thing about buffing in Boston is seeing all the different cities responding to multiple alarms. I've seen Massport pumpers working in Medford and an acting tiller company from Newton responding to medical calls in Somerville.
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So glad they worked hard to save the cross.
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That was a very stubborn fire. It was obviously in the walls in areas that were hard to reach and continued to burn despite numerous trucks spraying water on it
