It was unprecedented, even for seasoned veterans of the busy Fall River Fire Department. The kind of fire that officials tend to compare to a bad dream.
FALL RIVER — It was unprecedented, even for seasoned veterans of the busy Fall River Fire Department. The kind of fire that officials tend to compare to a bad dream.
“This thing ruptured the main natural gas feed and caught fire,” said Capt. Neil Furtado. “You can’t even dream up a nightmare scenario like this.”
The thing was a car, which in the nascent hours of 2019 sped through a residential parking lot, jumped two curbs and went airborne before crashing into the boiler room, where it severed the main gas line powering the heating system for the 36-unit building.
A bystander was the first to call 911, said Deputy Chief Roger St. Martin.
Just moments later, he said, a box alarm inside the building tripped, alerting the Fire Department to an emergency that would unfold over the next 24 hours, though its impact will be felt for weeks or months to come.
Firefighters on Engine 6 were the first to arrive on scene, four minutes after the initial 911 call came in at 9:43 a.m., said Furtado.
That’s just under the span of time it takes for truss connector plates to fail. Truss connectors — sheets of metal dotted with quarter-inch spikes — are commonly used to fasten lumber together when constructing a floor or roof.
But under high heat of a fire, those connectors can expand and fall away, increasing the risk of collapse, according to Fire Inspector Todd Young.
“Within five minutes, the trusses can fail,” he said, adding that fire spreads quickly through lightweight trusses in part because there's less wood to burn through.
Among the factors that made fighting the fire so difficult, said Furtado, was the construction method used.
“Lightweight truss construction makes it quicker to construct, way faster — but way more dangerous for us under fire conditions. Trusses are very dangerous to firefighters,” he said. “It’s a fire department industry nightmare. It’s everywhere — everything you see is truss.”
The car ruptured the gas line and caused an explosion, said St. Martin. Firefighters used the a hydraulic cutting tool to rip the roof off the sedan, flames lapping the ceiling overhead, Furtado said.
Firefighters cleared the building that Red Cross officials now say 84 people called home.
As the fire intensified, rescuers pulled 75-year-old Linda Leahey from the passenger's seat. The former Fall River School Department aide was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where she died the following day. Rescuers found Leahey’s younger sister, 72-year-old Judith Mauretti, dead in the car.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office is investigating. Fire officials are unsure why the car sped into the building.
"We're still wondering what happened," said St. Martin. "They both passed before we could talk to them."
Firefighters started the battle inside the building as mutual aid from Freetown, Somerset, Swansea, Tiverton, Westport and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, arrived on scene. Firefighters cut a hole in the roof in an attempt to ventilate smoke and heat, but their efforts were stymied by an attic floor they couldn’t reach with cutting tools, St. Martin said.
One firefighter fell through the first floor into the basement, said St. Martin, tweaked his knee and continued working. Eight firefighters were hospitalized with various injuries suffered over 17 hours spent battling the stubborn blaze, Furtado said. All but one had been released as of Friday.
The building in danger of collapse, a call was made to fight fire from outside. The second floor, superheated by flames, had collapsed onto the Pontiac Grand Prix. Then the third floor collapsed upon it, and the middle of the roof caved in, said Furtado.
“When roof collapsed, they couldn’t get in there, so they did everything from the outside,” he said.
Trees lining three sides of the burning apartment building further complicated the matter, said St. Martin. Had the the structure been recently built, modern fire code would have required open access on all four sides to give fire trucks 360 degree access.
"We couldn’t get any apparatus in the back. We had a hard time getting any water back there," Chief Fire Chief John Lynch said Wednesday.
The apartment building did not have a sprinkler system. Officials say it wasn’t required to. Building Inspector Glenn Hathaway said it was built around 1989, predating state law that required sprinklers in such multi-family residences.
"The (building) code does not allow me to walk into your building and say to you, ‘This building is so large that you need a sprinkler system,” he said.
The company that owns the Four Winds Apartments, Bridgewater-based Claremont Cos., plans to rebuild the the apartments, according to Elias Patoucheas, who on Thursday described the price tag as “millions.”
The new building must be fitted with a fire-suppression sprinkler system, said Hathaway.
Even if the building did have sprinklers, Tuesday’s gas-fueled fire would have caused damage, said Furtado. But he said sprinklers would've suppressed the fire when it reached the building’s upper floors.
“There’s no doubt about it if that whole building had a sprinkler system, it would have helped us out tremendously,” he said.
Crews had the fire largely controlled Tuesday night, though hot spots remained. After sunset, the wind blew westward off the Taunton River, and may have fed a lingering ember causing the fire to take off once again, said Furtado.
Furtado left the scene after midnight, when there was “massive fire still coming from the attic and the lower levels,” he said. The building was still smoldering when sun broke Wednesday morning.
It had to be demolished to be fully extinguished.
84 people, 36 families, around 20 organizations
Support for displaced families was swift. Director of Emergency Management Richard Aguiar said Friday that 84 people were displaced by the fire, not the 54 people originally reported, or the revised total of 80.
"I've been on the fire service for a long long time, and I've never seen the outpouring that we had here," Aguiar said.
Also swift were warnings that scammers may try to create fraudulent online fundraisers in hopes of capturing some of the monetary donations that many in the community seemed eager to make.
“When disaster happens like this, people come out of the woodwork and try to take advantage of people who should not be taken advantage of right now,” said Sharron Schoonover Furtado.
Furtado heads the Fall River Firefighter Wives Association, the nonprofit that has taken the lead on community fundraising efforts. She joined representatives from several city departments and nonprofit organizations who strategized a fire response Friday at the Fall River Fire Department headquarters.
After a closed-door meeting, Mayor Jasiel Correia II announced a second resource fair for fire victims being held in the atrium at Government Center on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Another fair will be held in the same location Tuesday from 1 to 7 p.m.
The resource fair was organized by the Red Cross in collaboration with the City of Fall River, said Edward Blanchard, Red Cross disaster program manager for the Cape, Islands and Southeast Massachusetts.
It aims to connect fire victims with housing, food and other necessities, as well as help them navigate other processes like replacing identification cards, birth certificates and other documents, said Correia.
Correia called on the community to continue donating money, gift cards, particularly for restaurants, to the recovery effort.
"We have in the last 24 hours gotten an overwhelming amount of clothing donated for this cause. So much so that we're asking that people shift their focus to food, gift cards, toiletries, specifically," he said, adding that donations can be delivered to Greater Fall River Re-Creation at 45 Rock St. and the Community Development Agency in Room 414 at Government Center.
Aguiar commended Claremont Cos. for supporting former tenants displaced by the fire. The company on Friday donated $2,800 to each family, in addition to it $750 donated to families the day after the fire.
The Red Cross' Blanchard said the relief organization has devoted additional resources to helping Four Winds fire victims due to the severity of the fire. He said 17 volunteers have been assigned to assist fire victims over the next two weeks.
"It really takes an entire city approach to meet the needs of these clients, not just one organization or government group," he said.
Email Amanda Burke at aburke@heraldnews.com.