BOSTON — The President of Boston Firefighters Local 718 is calling for immediate action to address urgent safety concerns in Boston’s Mass and Cass Corridor.
Sam Dillon said the situation is “worse than ever” and called it a “ticking time bomb”.
He told Boston 25 News that firefighters are being threatened with violence and facing dangerous levels of burnout with dozens of medical responses to the area every day.
He said the Dudley Street firehouse was overwhelmed with 54 emergency responses during one day last week – a large number of them stemming from Mass and Cass.
“It is only a matter of time before something tragic happens that we can’t take back,” said Dillon. “We need to take action now to prevent that. If we don’t, everyone involved who let it fester is going to be responsible.”
Dillon said fighters are facing risk of exposure to different diseases and dealing with the threat of being outnumbered by the large crowd.
“We’ve had firefighters, within the past 48 hours, who have responded to medical calls at Mass and Cass who have been threatened with violence, who have had weapons displayed to them, who have been surrounded by unruly crowds who are threatening them,” he explained.
His plea to city officials comes as police respond to a wave of recent violence at Mass and Cass.
That includes a triple stabbing that happened in broad daylight earlier this month.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced over the weekend that three suspects are now facing charges for their roles in that crime.
Those suspects were identified as 20-year-old Jaden Mathieu of Dorchester, 33-year-old Juan Shanks of Dorchester and 38-year-old Mikia Steed of Roxbury.
“What’s happening at Mass and Cass is a human tragedy and a community nightmare,” Hayden said. “This alarming violence illustrates, yet again, the urgent need for a collaborative approach combining all our resources—local, regional and state.”
Hayden said officers who responded to that July 15th triple stabbing “were instructed to be cognizant of the hundreds of open, uncapped hypodermic needles in the area”.
Boston 25 News reached out to the city of Boston for comment on Sunday and have not yet heard back.
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