Union: Possibility of attack line burned through looked at in deaths of two Boston firefighters
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Fallen heroes Lt. Edward Walsh and firefighter Michael Kennedy may have perished in the basement of a burning Back Bay brownstone after fierce flames chewed through the water hose they were frantically trying to discharge, union officials told the Herald this morning.
“That’s one of the potential situations we’re looking at,” said Ed Kelly, president of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. “It happens. You just think you’ve lost water so you ask for more water.”
The firefighters made desperate mayday calls from the basement asking for water within minutes of entering the building.
Capt. Neal Mullane of Ladder 18 and the Rapid Intervention Team said he and others responding to the two jakes’ mayday were trying to reach the basement with another line but were blown off their feet by a backdraft. Mullane suffered a gash and burn to the back of his head.
“There was some kind of extraordinary event that happened in the basement,’’ Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said, while standing near the charred remnants of the four-story brownstone building at 298 Beacon St.
MacDonald said authorities had no theory yet on the cause of the inferno that killed Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh Jr., 43, and Firefighter Michael R. Kennedy, 33, both assigned to Engine 33 on Boylston Street.
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But, he added, the powerfully gusting winds blowing off the Charles River and into the Back Bay neighborhood on Wednesday are believed by fire officials to have played a role.
What officials do know is that fierce winds were a factor in the fire’s size. The blaze was originally controlled in the basement before winds blew out the windows, fanning the flames and helping it to spread.
“The wind in the rear that was coming off the Charles and going straight to the building was considerable. Probably more than we’re used to,” said Spokesperson Steve MacDonald of the Boston Fire Department.
Nothing has been ruled out at this point, although earlier reports said that officials believed it was accidental.
MacDonald said a board of injury made up of chiefs that did not work the fire will conduct their own probe and that report would take “several months.”
No dates have been set yet for funerals for Walsh and Kennedy.
The firefighters union will make those arrangements with their families.
