By Michael Naughton
The Boston Globe
 Photo Rick Nohl Firefighters at the scene, Friday. |
LYNN, Mass. — A four-alarm blaze that took firefighters nearly 15 hours to control has destroyed a downtown church and three businesses.
Firefighters responded to the fire in the building on Andrew Street Friday just after 2 p.m. to find smoke coming from the garage area of American By-Products, a transfer station of the company that collects old grease and transports it to local companies.
Because of poor weather conditions and because the flames were burning in a narrow space between the ceiling and the roof of the building, firefighters were not able to get the blaze under control until just before 5 a.m. yesterday, said District Chief Bob Bourgeois.
The fire was caused by spontaneous combustion of work gloves that had been stored, officials said.
“It was pouring rain, and that brings the smoke down and makes the visibility really poor,” said Bourgeois. “The fire was in the roof assembly. It was very difficult. We didn’t want to risk the chance of sending firefighters in there and the roof coming down on them.”
The church and businesses were in a one-story commercial building in downtown Lynn, which yesterday was busy with onlookers.
Portions of the roof of the law office of Bratton & Springer LLP and Hatch Hearing Aid Center collapsed into the charred remains of the businesses.
All that was left yesterday morning of Good Samaritan Church at the corner of Andrew and Central streets was blackened and burned wood supports that were soon plucked from the ground and knocked down by a backhoe working to collect the debris.
There was no damage estimate, Bourgeois said.
One firefighter was hurt while battling the blaze. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Bourgeois said.
Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office and the Lynn Fire and Arson Squad determined that the fire started when a chemical used to clean protective gloves ignited while the gloves were drying in a bag, said Stephen D. Coan, the state fire marshal.
The gloves are worn by workers while processing the grease.
Fire officials said they were specifically worried about the effects of a blaze in the transfer station.
“We had some concerns about some of the products,” said Bourgeois. “They stored diesel and grease.”
He said the transfer station had been permitted to store the materials and had been inspected as part of the permitting process.
Smoke from the blaze filled parts of downtown and caused some nearby business owners to panic.
“Of course I was worried,” said Laura Gevorgyan, the owner of Supreme Bakery, which is located across the street. “All of the smoke came inside and around the building. I was afraid to turn on my oven.”
Ronnie Marino, an employee at the transfer station for more than a decade, said he was walking to work to pick up his check when he saw smoke coming from the back of the building.
“I ran inside and told the [receptionist] to call 911,” said Marino, standing outside his charred workplace. “Then I called. I wish I could have went in there and done something. There’s nothing you can do; just sit and watch. It’s so sad.”
A building housing a church and three businesses on Andrew Street in downtown Lynn was destroyed by a blaze that started at about 2 p.m. on Friday and burned for 15 hours.
Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company
All Rights Reserved