At approximately 5:15 a.m. on Friday, December 28th, residents of 94-96 Endicott Street were evacuated for a fire that broke out on the first floor. Boston Fire Department contained the fire to a clothes dryer and all residents were able to safely get out of the building. The dryer was part of an operation by North End Linens, formerly Dip It Sweet.
Neighbor Joyce DiStefano initially smelled the smoke and attempted to notify building residents to get out of their apartments while also helping her 94 year old mother down the stairs to safety. She attempted to contact 911 but her calls would not go through because of the persistent 911 outages. Fortunately, her quick thinking led her to the fire pull station box on the corner of Cooper and Endicott streets. “She is the real hero here,” said resident Doug DiPietro who shared these photos.
Universal Hub adds to the story by highlighting the municipal fire box used on Endicott Street (Box 1212) was the first ever pulled in 1852.
Photos by Doug DiPietro.
The Boston Fire Museum also posted about this event and its historical significance. Quick thinking, Ms. DiStefano!
https://www.facebook.com/10150104352230029/posts/10161239172430029/
Great job! Great ending. My grandparents lived at 89 Endicott.
A linen company? Was it zoned for a business? Was it fire coded for a business? That is so dangerous and not ok at all. What if someone was hurt? Who is looking into this?
It was an ice cream shop before so yes it was zoned for a business. If you are so concerned call 311 or look up the zoning yourself on boston.gov
Seriously- are you new to this neighborhood? Your naivety about a building and potential uses seems to imply that. And telling me to call 311- just to get a “CLOSED- inspected area and found no business” response?
No I am not new. Have lived here for decades. Why do you expect someone else to look into this? If you are so interested look into yourself.
This is why for many years now, the BFD has insist that the fire alarm system stay intact with neighborhood fire boxes. Once again, they, were proven right with the 911 system going down. Even with loss eletricity in a power loss, the boxes operation is on a different system. That lady knew, the fire box was there.
You have that right Michael Giannetti.