Fire at 100 Putnam Avenue Under Investigation

Cambridge, MA—May 30, 2015 —At approximately 1:54 pm today, Cambridge’s Emergency Communications Center received a report of a fire on the roof of the Martin Luther King Jr. School that is under construction at 100 Putnam Avenue. Upon arrival, responding units from the Cambridge Fire Department (CFD) encountered very heavy wind driven fire conditions on the roof. “Our crews needed to advance hose lines over aerial ladders in order to extinguish the fire,” said Assistant Fire Chief Gerard Mahoney. “This was an extremely labor intensive operation for the firefighters on scene.” Three alarms were ultimately transmitted for this incident and no injuries are being reported at this time.

Damage to the roof is significant and the Cambridge Fire Department estimates that the roof covering and insulation, and a number of HVAC units will need to be replaced. Additionally, the third floor of the building has significant smoke and water damage. Initial damage estimates are appropriately $2.5M.

“The firefighters on scene today did a great job extinguishing this fire given the difficult conditions,” said Richard C. Rossi, City Manager. “The City will need to conduct an assessment of the damage caused by today’s fire before we can understand any impacts that it may have on the opening of the MLK Jr. School. We will provide the public with an update once the evaluation of the building is completed.” Rossi went on to say, “There is no reason for us to believe that today’s fire will impact the proposed schedule for the King Open and Cambridge Street Upper Schools & Community Complex Project.”

The cause of the fire is undetermined and is under investigation. The State Fire Marshal’s Office will be working with CFD Fire Investigators.
Media inquiries should be directed to Assistant Chief Gerard Mahoney at GMahoney@CambridgeFire.Org or 617-775-9336