By adamg on Tue., 7/26/2016 - 1:33 pm 
The Boston Fire Department says "careless disposal of smoking material" started a fire this afternoon that did $500,000 in damage to the house at 87 Sawyer Ave. and melted the siding on the house next door.
Ten people - plus a family moving into one of the house's four units today - were made homeless, the department says.
Firefighters responded at 12:55 p.m. Fire commanders called in extra firefighters to limit the amount of time firefighters had to spend in the heat battling the blaze.
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I saw the black column of
By Rob
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 1:47pm
I saw the black column of smoke from the Expressway at a couple of minutes to one pm.
As I got closer and could reckon a little bit where it was, I was afraid it was St Mary's Women and Infants Center. Turns out I had the right hill, anyway.
I flipped from what I was listening to WBZ to catch the headlines and traffic at the top of the hour. Unsurprisingly, they didn't mention it in the news and they didn't mention it in the traffic. They did mention that Xway NB was slow but either didn't know why or didn't think to say why (largely rubbernecking the column of smoke).
The cherry on top was that the next thing over the air from 'BZ was a promo spot from Saint Mary's Women & Infants Center.
Unsurprisingly, they didn't
By roadman
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:04pm
Because it's obviously more important to
justify their junket tocover a wasteful and pointless convention in Philadelphia than to actually report on news happening in Boston. The only thing worse is being force fed even more ads down your throats, like whenHerb TarlekGary LaPierre interrupts to tell you how to cheat nursing homes out of their fees.Meh - Get off my lawn!
By JimGaffigan
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:13pm
Here is the thing about radio. Nobody is forcing you to listen to it. If you don't like the content, be a good American and exercise your right to change the damn channel. There are plenty of other options if you don't like the coverage.
ummm...
By Rob
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:47pm
ummm...
I WAS listening to another channel.
I DID change the damn channel - to the local all-news station*.
To get LOCAL NEWS.
Because, no, there ISN'T any other option. Not in this market.
Because when there's a fire in the middle of a residential neighborhood putting out a volume of smoke usually achieved in this area only by fire drills on the tarmac at Logan, it's not unreasonable to think that the local news station might have the local news.
My point exactly
By roadman
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 5:27pm
Thank you.
Ummm..
By JimGaffigan
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 7:13pm
I didn't respond to your comment.
I was responding to the old fart's comment.
There are plenty of other
By roadman
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 10:24am
What other options? Lets see here. WBZ Radio - Top of the hour, half hour, and as many times in between as they can get away with it headline - Our man from Boston live at the Democratic National Junket - er - Convention in Philadelphia, which goes on with the reporting and "analysis" for three minutes and is resumed after the traffic and weather reports for another three minutes
WBZ TV - Top of the hour, half hour, and as many times in between as they can get away with it headline - Live from the Democratic National Junket - er Convention in Philadelphia, which goes on with reporting and "analysis" for five to seven minutes
New England Cable News, WCVB TV, WHDH TV, etc. - Top of the hour, half hour, and as many times in between as they can get away with it headline - Live from the Democratic National Junket - er -Convention in Philadelphia which goes on with reporting and "analysis" for five to seven minutes
Yep, live coverage of events in Philadelphia is really showing diversity in coverage of Boston-area local news. But by your primitive standards, anyone who disagrees with this pointless and wasteful coverage of blown up non events (it had already been established who the nominee would be without the need for a junket to declare that) must be an old fart. Sad that
Oh FFS
By BullDetector
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 12:26pm
You want traffic and just traffic? Google maps with traffic or Waze
Want radio without ads or talk? Sirius XM, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, IheartRadio..
Want all talk radio with just your point of view. Again Sirius.
Like it or not, the DNC is news. Just like the RNC was last week. One of those idiots will be president. News stations follow news items. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it is not profitable for the radio stations.
Your life must be truly miserable if this is what sends you over the edge.
I know right
By Scratchie
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 12:35pm
You should hear him go off if anyone has the temerity to call Route 128 "Route 128".
Explain to us why the "news" from
By roadman
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 2:37pm
the DNC and the RNC is so important that it has to totally monopolize the newscasts on supposed LOCAL news outlets, and preempt coverage of more important local stories by those outlets. The media has been telling us who the presumptive nominees for both parties would be for months now, even before all states have conducted their primary elections. We don't need every little detail of the political parties special junkets - er - "conventions" forced down our throats every moment just so "journalists" can justify their expenses and make excuses to force feed us even more advertising.
And, with respect, what is truly miserable is not my life, but the fact that so many people are so willing to accept the increasing "monkey see - monkey do" and "let's put an extra two ads in our broadcast and hope nobody notices" attitudes of the media. Just another example of how this country is truly being taken over by the corporate interests.
I don't need to explain anything to you
By BullDetector
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 4:57pm
You are listening to a product. Radio. You don't have to listen to it. Nobody does. If enough people feel the same way as you, those radio stations will change their format. That is how business works.
Just to reiterate
By Scratchie
Thu, 07/28/2016 - 1:41pm
Nobody has to justify jack shit to you. You're not that important.
Except for one thing
By roadman
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 5:26pm
All the stations are broadcasting the same nonsense and with the same mission of increasing the ad content at the expense of actual news coverage- you know, the REASON we tune in in the first place.
And just why is it so unreasonable that a local Boston news station should focus on LOCAL news stories first. Instead, we get lazy reporters and even lazier editors who would rather focus on the same overhyped stories that everyone else is reporting on.
WBZ is terrible.
By Anony- Mouse
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 10:18pm
And awful. And useless except maybe a very brief news and weather on the 3s. And those generally suck, too.
They don't really deserve to call themselves a news station. IMHO.
What % of smoking fires are weed
By EM Painter
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 3:48pm
How many of these smoking materials fires are weed vs tobacco?
Does it matter? Home is still
By nicklll
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 3:59pm
Does it matter? Home is still f'd
I would imagine it's
By Scratchie
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:25pm
I would imagine it's relatively low. Tobacco cigarettes stay lit if you leave them unattended (I've been told that they are made with added ingredients to facilitate this). Weed (and roll-your-own tobacco) tends to go out if you don't keep dragging on it.
Or so I've heard.
Doesn't mean it's impossible to start a fire if you drop a joint in your sofa or fall asleep with one in your hand, but it's probably less likely than with a typical tobacco cigarette.
Also, who cares?
How many involve alcohol?
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:33pm
Well?
Spilling your beer doesn't usually result in a fire
By Ron Newman
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:38pm
I'm guessing it's weed then
By EM Painter
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:45pm
If it's cigarettes they would just say cigarettes wouldn't they? If they won't say cigarettes then it must be weed.
Unlikely
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:54pm
See the reference, below.
Smoking material can refer to pipes, cigars, etc. too. Usually? Cigarettes, which will keep burning due to the properties of tobacco.
What is your point with all this, anyway??? Colorado legalized some years ago, and MMJ has been available in numerous states for some time, so there is actual evidence, facts, and data! No need to speculate!
"the properties of tobacco."
By perruptor
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 7:36am
No, Scratchie is correct, it's not an inherent property of shredded tobacco to keep burning, it's chemicals like saltpeter added to cigarettes so that they will keep burning. Just another measure of the high regard tobacco companies have for their customers. I rolled my own for years, and none of the tobaccos I used would keep burning unless I kept puffing on them.
Also, "careless disposal of smoking materials" is the language they've used for most of my life. It's pretty pointless to single out one leaf or another to be the "culprit."
Oh dear
By anon
Thu, 07/28/2016 - 9:09am
Somebody is a specificity ninny. It is the properties of the tobacco used in cigarettes. Read the article - the burn rings in the paper help,but not with weed.
Oh deary good gracious
By perruptor
Thu, 07/28/2016 - 1:58pm
Somebody is an all-around ninny who wants to pretend my comment was a response to a different set of words from the ones directly quoted in it. Read the comment, or the one it's a response to, or the Republican Party Platform, or the latest Dan Brown novel, or whatever floats your boat, but none of your scorn is warranted.
Whoosh
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:52pm
Ciggies and booze are a very bad combo (pass out or fall asleep while smoking).
You must have had a tame family.
Alcohol and tobacco together?
By Jean R
Thu, 07/28/2016 - 10:49pm
Spilling your beer doesn't usually result in a fire...but I wonder how many of the fires caused by people falling asleep with lit cigarettes ALSO involve alcohol, e.g. if they are too sleepy to be careful because they're inebriated.
Easy enough to google it
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 4:55pm
MJ cigarettes self-extinguish in lab tests versus cigarettes due to oils/resins - even when constructed in the same manner as cigarettes with the same paper that is designed to keep a cigarette burning.
Read the entire National Association of Fire Inspectors report HERE
Throughout the testing, the
By Scratchie
Tue, 07/26/2016 - 5:21pm
Shee-oot! Ain't that the truth!
Or, er, so I've heard.
Carelessness
By JonT
Wed, 07/27/2016 - 9:52am
Considering the number of times I see cigarette smokers just toss their still-lit butts on the ground without even bothering to stamp them out, it doesn't surprise me that they sometimes cause fires.
What's with those people anyway? Why do they think it's OK to leave their butts on the ground, even when extinguished?
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