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Fire displaces 40 in Egleston Square
By adamg on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 9:41pm
Investigators, including Keegan, the accelerant-sniffing fire dog, look for clues to fire's cause. Photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department report a three-alarm fire at 3118 Washington St. that broke out shortly before 5 p.m. caused an estimated $1 million in damage both to that building and to a nearby building on Weld Avenue.
Some 40 residents of the four-story building were displaced, but none were injured, the department reports.
Arson investigators, including Keegan the fire dog, were called to the scene to help determine the cause.
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Comments
Gentrification event?
Sad to see these folks displaced. That appears to be a poor managed/maintained building owned by a couple slumlords so given the economic shifts in Egleston, I wonder if they'll sell to a developer who wants to improve the building. This is the kind of building the city should buy and hold to offset gentrification IMO.
https://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/2015/04/18/owners-of-notorious-apartmen...
https://www.universalhub.com/2015/problem-child-egleston-square-apartmen...
I didn't realize
this was the same building. The fire department appears to suspect arson, since they've got the accelerant-sniffing-dog in. If it turns out that the slumlord property owners burned their own property down, I'd agree that the city should seize this and every other property their name is on.
Worrisome
The Stamatos Family owns this building and has been successful in burning down other properties of theirs in JP (Century 21 Realty on Centre Street; 138 South Street) either to displace their commercial tenants or get insurance funds to pay for a renovation. http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2008/01/11/lightning_strikes_thrice/
I think it is quite plausible that they're pulling the same stunt here.
We have to demand that that the existing tenants have right of return to this building.
Whoa
Two of this owner's other buildings were victims of arson. Hmm...
Facts are troubling things
Before you go slandering innocent people, why don't you consider the rest of the story?
http://jamaicaplaingazette.com/2014/11/21/arsonist-now-blamed-for-entire...
I hate inferior research, especially when it is out to prove a preconceived notion.
This property has been a "Problem Property" for years in JP. It is associated with much criminal activity. But, yes, the evil capitalist property owner must have set a fire to get them out so he can gentrify the property. Yes, that is the obvious conclusion. Sad.
That's a weird bit of justice
I wasn't familiar with the concept of 'hey, we bagged this guy for this crime here so he's probably guilty of these other incidents'. That's wild. And convenient for the district to close open criminal cases without convictions or trial.
So, I'd say that 1) the landlords are not good dudes 2) if this fire requires extensive renovation of that building, regardless of the cause or intent, it's more likely than not to lead to those low income residents being displaced. The outcome is going to be same regardless of the presence or absence of nefarious intent by these landlords honestly.
He was extremely dangerous
I remember these fires and one of them was just up the street from our home. He filled a tire with gasoline, leaned it against the front door and lit it. This was at night. The people were home and just barely were able to get out of the house. He knew the rear exit was unusable due to construction so they had to jump out out of windows. He was not just trying to cause property damage. He was trying to hurt or kill.
All the fires were similar and he had some connection to all of the owners. Just because the DA didn't charge him with every fire (because the evidence may have not been as much as needed) doesn't mean they didn't know he did it. The fires stopped after he was arrested. It was pretty clear they were related and not just the DA tying up open cases.
I don't know much about the landlord, but the tenants are not all exactly low income salt of the earth hard working types. There have been many arrests there for various crimes like prostitution and drugs. JP neighborhood groups have been trying to clean up the property for years. The landlord may be scum, but the speed many here are willing to assume so is evidence of an unfair bias.
...stemming the tide of rumors
The bldg WAS on problem properties list and owners (Stamatos) cleaned it somewhat and leased entire building to Casa Nueva Vida who used it as transitional housing for single families. Those are the displaced families now.
Landlord
Your assumption is incorrect. These buildings are well maintained. If you watch the news, the fire department said the fire alarm activated and they were able to get onto the fire quickly and put it out.
We believe it was arson, has nothing to do with the landlords. You should save your rude comments or somebody different