New Bedford Fire Causes South Second Street Building to Collapse

Table Of Content

• Organizations helping displaced residents
• Residents seen jumping out of windows to escape deadly fire at New Bedford rooming house
• Police identify man involved in East Providence chase
• Fire claimed two victims
• After a devastating fire, New Bedford is cracking down on rooming houses. Here's how.
• These are the best Mother’s Day gifts you can buy …
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Kruger said firefighters rescued at least three residents, while several others leapt from their windows. An automatic sprinkler system, which is required under the city’s fire code, was not installed despite repeated warnings from the fire department ordering the property owners to install one. The city last year even threatened to revoke the license to operate as a rooming house for failing to comply with fire code. One person who lived on the third floor said that there were no sprinklers in the building at the time of the fire. A family member of one resident said that the hatch to the fire escape ladder was locked, forcing some to jump from the second-story wooden balcony. Fire investigators said the fire started in Room 205, located at the left rear of the second floor.

Organizations helping displaced residents

The Red Cross, Salvation Army and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency are among the group supporting local efforts. The Fire Department was focused Wednesday on recovering any fatalities and quickly demolishing the unstable building. State police dogs worked the ground while drones hovered overhead to assist the demolition. "Anytime you can have a sprinkler system in the building, it's always better than having a building with no sprinkler system in it obviously," said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger. This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Residents seen jumping out of windows to escape deadly fire at New Bedford rooming house

The Red Cross and Salvation Army Disaster Team were seen Tuesday night helping out residents, the station reported. The building was a 31-unit rooming house, with each unit locking individually and each floor sharing a common bathroom, according to residents. One of the victims was identified as 59-year-old Manual Moreira, who lived on the fourth floor. New Bedford fire Chief Scott Kruger said Tuesday afternoon that the first firefighters to arrive rescued several people from the windows of the building. “It’s hard because you have to try and account for all the people — the residents that are supposed to live there, people that had been in that building during the day visiting or just there and they’re not on paper.

Police identify man involved in East Providence chase

Amaral said the city has connected those impacted with local agencies to assist them in their search for a new place to live. Josh Amaral, New Bedford’s director of housing and community development, told 12 News the city is doing everything in its power to help those impacted by the fire. Matos said her fiancé has been having recurring nightmares of escaping the flames, adding that he did everything in his power to get as many tenants to safety as he could.

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Their body was found after investigators used heavy equipment to sort through debris and remove parts of the building, which partially collapsed. Authorities identified the man who died as Manuel Moreira, 59, who lived on the top floor of the four-story building, according to Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III’s office. A second victim was recovered Wednesday from the rubble of a rooming house in New Bedford, where a massive fire the day before caused “catastrophic damage,” according to the state fire marshal’s office. Kruger said firefighters rescued at least three residents before they were forced to retreat as conditions worsened. More than two dozen tenants lived in the rooming house, according to Kruger.

The investigation into the cause of the fire continued Wednesday, as community members step in to help the residents displaced. A second body was found by firefighters combing through the rooming house partially destroyed in a massive fire in New Bedford, Massachusetts, fire officials said Wednesday. The size of the building and fire conditions made it difficult for first responders to determine who needed to be rescued first.

After a devastating fire, New Bedford is cracking down on rooming houses. Here's how.

Crews could not go into the building Wednesday because it’s structurally unsound, so they used demolition equipment to carefully remove parts of the building, and crews sorted through the debris to locate a person who was missing. Kruger said the first firefighters to arrive rescued several people jumping from the windows of the building. The four-floor building had 31 units and approximately 25 people are displaced, according to Kruger. According to a listing for the apartment building at Rosen Property Management, single- and double-occupancy rooms are rented on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis.

Community groups support tenants who lost everything in New Bedford rooming house fire - Turn to 10

Community groups support tenants who lost everything in New Bedford rooming house fire.

Posted: Thu, 30 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Jason Gilmore leapt to safety from a second-floor fire escape with several other tenants. The fire chief said at least five tenants were injured in the fire, which quickly engulfed the building and shrouded the neighborhood in thick, black smoke. But despite the violation, the city licensing board granted the rotating cast listed as owners of the now-demolished building a “license to keep a lodging house” each year records were made available — most recently in May of 2022, according to city records.

Man dead, 1 missing after massive fire at New Bedford boarding house - CBS Boston

Man dead, 1 missing after massive fire at New Bedford boarding house.

Posted: Wed, 29 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Residents said that the building was under “mostly cosmetic” renovation, but that no work was being done on the property Tuesday. On Tuesday, New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Kruger said that five people were transported to local hospitals, with three in serious condition. No updates were provided on the condition of the hospitalized residents. After that, keeping them sheltered has been made possible by what Lima calls a "piecemeal" system dependent on day-today donations, and now an undisclosed amount of emergency funds from the city, originally given to New Bedford as federal pandemic assistance. In an April interview with The Standard-Times, Kruger shared the fire department's and city's plans to do a sweep of the city's rooming houses to check up on compliance statuses.

Of the two victims, one has been identified by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office as 59-year-old Manuel Moreira, who lived on the fourth floor of the building. The other victim, who was found during excavation efforts on Wednesday, remains unidentified, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said in a press release. A deadly fire at a New Bedford rooming house Tuesday started accidentally, likely caused by a microwave or wall outlet, fire officials said Friday. The mayor and the fire chief stressed that, despite the barriers, the city would continue efforts to enforce fire code regulations in New Bedford’s rooming houses. The fire department closed its investigation last week after determining the fire likely started with a microwave, or the microwave’s wall outlet, on the building’s second floor. The lack of compliance with “sprinkler law” is a widespread issue in New Bedford’s rooming houses.

An engine company remained on scene to standby while a demolition contractor removed the remaining collapsed portions of the building and secured the area. One firefighter was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for evaluation but is expected to be released Saturday, the fire department said. NBC affiliate WJAR reports he was suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. Shortly after a collapse zone was set up, the main building suffered a complete collapse, fire officials said.

Engulfed in flames, the building sustained catastrophic damage while firefighters succeeded in preventing the fire to extend to other homes in the area. Firefighters searched the building as conditions deteriorated, eventually finding Moreira. Demolition and excavation equipment was used to find the second victim by Wednesday afternoon, Boston.com reported.

The fire conditions in that building rapidly deteriorated, said Kruger. "That type of construction lends to that — lots of void spaces, lots of places for heat and smoke to build up,” according to a WCVB report. "The fire had control of that building when we arrived. There's no question about that, it was on all four floors. In the hallways. It actually burned through a stairwell when they were in there," said Kruger. The recovery came as investigators are using heavy equipment throughout the day to delayer and examine the badly damaged structure. Phillip MacDonald said that his brother and his brother's girlfriend lived in one of the building's units, right next to where the fire started.

When Sky5 flew over the four-story building Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were dousing the building with water from all sides. The water was pouring out from doors on the ground floor, but flames and heavy smoke continued. On Tuesday afternoon, he said at least five people were transported to the hospital, some with serious conditions.