By Marie Szaniszlo
The Boston Herald
A city raid yesterday uncovered a “ton” of flammables in an illegal space owned by the landlord whose adjacent Roxbury warehouse burst into a nine-alarm inferno after being torched by fireworks last month, authorities said.
Three tenants were evicted from their digs and an auto body shop at 31 Norfolk Ave. was boarded up after inspectors discovered exposed wiring, open electrical boxes and flammables that “set the stage for a potential fire disaster,” said Darryl Smith, assistant commissioner of government services at the Inspectional Services Department.
“We are a couple of buildings down from the scene of one of the largest fires in Boston, and the owner has said at least some of the tenants here were responsible for that fire,” Smith said, pointing to fireworks still scattered on the warehouse’s roof.
Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said investigators haven’t yet decided whether they will charge anyone with illegal possession of fireworks in connection with the Aug. 21 blaze.
“Obviously, the damage it did was tremendous, and it created a spectacular fire,” MacDonald said.
A Sept. 14 hearing on yesterday’s violations will be held at Inspectional Services.
Last month’s conflagration left one of the two 40,000-square-foot warehouses in ruins. The buildings’ owner, Candeloro Maggio, yesterday said he “of course” knew that the apartments he was leasing were illegal, but he had no idea anyone was setting off fireworks there until the blaze.
Stephen Foote, one of Maggio’s tenants, said he had just arrived back from a European tour with his band, Big D and the Kids Table, only to find himself and his cat, Edmund, homeless yesterday after the city boarded up the building.
“I finally find someplace in Boston to use as a recording space,” said Foote, 34, “and it’s just sad to have to say goodbye.”
Copyright 2010 Boston Herald Inc.