Training property was 2 blocks away

By John R. Ellement
The Boston Globe
Copyright 2007 Boston Globe
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

BRAINTREE, Mass. — Town firefighters learned a different kind of lesson when they punched holes in a house as part of a training exercise: Make sure you have the right address.

And now the owners of the house they damaged want the Fire Department to pay up.

"They made the mistake," said Clayton Luu, whose family had lived in the four-bedroom white Victorian since the 1980s until an electrical fire last year heavily damaged it. "They will have to pay for it."

Department officials said yesterday that the error is the subject of an internal investigation.

Firefighters who arrived at the Luu house on Harrison Avenue Monday morning were instead supposed to be two blocks away on Coolidge Avenue, where Jim Doherty was having his white raised bungalow razed.

Doherty said fire officials knew where he lived and which house was slated for demolition.

He said he had given the department permission earlier this month to send new recruits to his bungalow so they could practice cutting open roofs for quick access to burning buildings. His contractor applied for a demolition permit at the Fire Department, he said, and fire officials were at the house Friday when the recruit training exercise was originally scheduled to take place.

The Friday exercise was postponed because fire officials were not ready and utilities still needed to be shut off, Doherty said. Firefighters were told they could conduct the training Monday, as long as they were done before 11 a.m., he said.

So Doherty was puzzled when he drove by the Luu house and saw firefighters furiously cutting holes in the roof.

"This is just a total mishap," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I really think the Fire Department is an excellent fire department. This is just an unfortunate situation."

Luu, whose family operates three restaurants in Boston, said that the family wants to meet with Braintree officials before deciding their next step.

The Luus planned to start renovations next month. Now, renovations will be more extensive. Firefighters cut at least three large square holes into the main roof and cut a large hole through the roof of the two-car garage. The garage doors were also cut open, and some interior damage was done, as well.

Clayton Luu and his brother, Jeffrey, both said they were more confused than upset by the mistake. "Accidents happen," Jeffrey Luu said.

Neighbors, Doherty, and the Luus suggested firefighters might have been led astray by the condition of the house when they arrived. A black scorch mark runs up one side, some windows were boarded up with weathered plywood, and the grass was knee-high because it had not been cut in weeks.

When firefighters started the training exercise, they drew a crowd of neighbors and children playing in a nearby park.

Jayne Kenny brought her two young children and watched as firefighters threw up a ladder and started cutting into the roof at various spots.

She said that more than a dozen firefighters were involved and that several fire engines were parked nearby.

"We thought it was all good," she said. "We thought it was all positive to see them training on something that was already going to be taken down. It wasn't like it was a regular-looking house that they messed up."

Town officials declined to comment on the error. Selectmen and the executive secretary, Susan Kay, did not respond to telephone calls, e-mails, or personal visits to town hall seeking comment. Kay also seized the Building Department's public records on both properties, including the demolition permit for Doherty's home, according to a town official.

In a short statement, Deputy Fire Chief John Donahoe said, "The matter is under internal investigation. As soon as we have a complete report, it will be released to the press."