Apparently, an exploding transformer caused the fire.
One dead, 31 taken to hospital, over 100 treated for smoke inhalation. Photos : -
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/120806Fire1Broadway Updates:
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http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/12/office_building.html Office workers described a harrowing evacuation from a 17-story building in Cambridge today after an electrical explosion in the basement filled hallways with smoke and forced people to climb out windows and escape the structure on ladders, according to police and witnesses.
One person died and up to 100 more were treated for smoke inhalation, including 31 who were taken to hospitals, according to fire and hospital officials.
Cambridge Fire Chief Gerald Reardon said two NStar employees in the sub-basement were working on a transformer that exploded and sparked an electrical fire.
Tom May, NStar's chairman, president and chief executive officer, issue a statement that identified the worker who died as Kevin Fidalgo, 28, who had worked for the company since June 2000.
"We appreciate this morning's rapid response by emergency officials who did their best to help Kevin," May said. "While our work continues with authorities investigating the accident, our thoughts at this time are with Kevin’s family and helping them in any way we can."
The other NStar worker, Christopher Carey, was being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for smoke inhalation, May said.
There were 700 to 800 people in the building at 1 Broadway in Kendall Square, which is owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is at the intersection of Main Street near the Longfellow Bridge, which has been closed.
Workers described suffocating smoke that smelled like burnt rubber and was so thick in places it was hard to see even a few inches.
Just after 11 a.m., occupants reported hearing a faint, low rumble, according to Aaron Read, 30, who was at work on the third floor.
"Immediately the lights started flickering and the electricity went weird," Read said. "There was a hell of a lot of smoke in emergency stairwells."
On the ninth floor, employees at the Syska Hennessy Group engineering and consulting firm started to evacuate. When the group made it as far as about the sixth floor, the smoke got so thick they could only see a few inches in front of their faces, employees said.
The employees said they then broke the windows and were able to crawl out onto the roof of an adjacent parking garage, where they were able to make their way down to the ground.
Katika Janes said she was working at an engineering firm on the fifth floor when an announcement over the public address system told people to evacuate because there was an electrical fire in the basement.
Janes headed for the emergency stairwell where she said she and about 75 other people had to push through smoke and flames to get outside.
"It was scary," Janes said. "Very scary."
The MBTA's Red Line is running again but has delays.
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