‘We were always worried about something like this happening’: Firefighters from all over Boston area

CHELSEA, Mass. — A fire at a warehouse lighting up the night sky. Firefighters from several communities rushed in to help knock out the flames. The warehouse where this happened is vacant, but the fire still prompts big concerns. Firefighters worked to protect the homes on nearby Crescent Ave and also the MBTA Commuter Rail tracks. Service on the Newburyport/Rockport line is suspended until further notice, for concern the building might collapse onto the tracks.ven after the bulk of the fire was put out, firefighters will remain on scene all day monitoring for hotspots. The Chelsea fire chief says they’ve been keeping their eye on this building for a while—doing weekly checks and were afraid something like this might happen.

In the middle of the night—residents in this Chelsea neighborhood woke up to an orange glow right out their windows.

“Before I knew it opened the curtain, whole thing was engulfed,” said Dayanara Montilla, who lives in a building right next to the warehouse.

“The fire started spreading like coming up the train track and I told her we need to get out cause there’s a lot of dry leaves on the ground and I was like I don’t want that fire to come to the building,” said Edna Vargas, who lives in building right next to the warehouse.

The vacant warehouse on Forbes Street in Chelsea caught fire just after midnight and it spread quick

“It took like 15 minutes for the whole building to catch on fire,” said Vargas.

Dayanara said she heard a group of kids right before the flames broke out.

“I heard some kids, like commotion going on in there, they were running around in the back,” said Montilla.

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Chelsea Warehouse Fire Chelsea Warehouse Fire

“Anytime you have a fire in a vacant property you have to be suspicious,” said Chelsea Fire Chief John Quatieri.

The Chelsea Fire Chief says the four-story vacant mill-style building that used to be home to the Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company—is familiar to the fire department…they do weekly checks there.

“It was on our radar,” said Chief Quatieri. “We are always worried about something like this happening. So our fire prevention division did a weekly inspection, along with some of the city inspectors, just to keep an eye on it. We try to have the owner of this property keep it as secure as he could. But obviously it is a pretty big site and people get in there.”

Fire crews from all over came in to help battle the flames. But the big challenge was water access. The tide was too low for the fireboats to use---so hoses needed to be hooked up to all the surrounding fire hydrants. Firefighters never went in—as the roof collapsed and they knew the old building was dangerous.

“A month ago we had a fire in one of the other buildings in an elevator shaft a year ago we had a fire in one of the smaller buildings,” said Chief Quatieri. “It’s something that we’ve been keeping our eye on and unfortunately today this one got ahead of us before we got here.”

No one was hurt, but the Red Cross did come out to provide water and food for all the firefighters who had been out here for hours. The chief says a portion of the building will be torn down. It’s up to the property owner if they want to tear down the rest. Chelsea’s fire investigation unit and Mass State Police are investing the cause.

In 2008 a developer tried to convert the building into offices and living spaces, but the project was abandoned.

The Newburyport/Rockport Line is currently suspended due to fire activity and multiple streets in the area have been blocked off.

Classes are canceled at the Mary C. Burke Elementary Complex. All other schools in Chelsea will remain open.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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