VIDEOS: Firefighters Battle Three-Alarm Blaze on Andrew Road

Firefighters from several North Shore communities are now battling a three-alarm fire in a home on Andrew Road.

Fire apparatus from more than five North Shore communities have been called in to help Swampscott firefighters knock down a three-alarm fire that broke out in an Andrew Road home this morning. The fire, which was first reported at 9:15 a.m., is currently contained to a blue two-and-a-half story home at 50 Andrew Road. Update 10:15 a.m.: Firefighters are currently venting the roof with chainsaws and knocking out windows. Large plumes of black smoke are pouring from the house. Fire still contained to original structure. Update 10:30 a.m.: Firefighters are giving up on the roof, have taken defensive positions. Swampscott Patch will be posting additional information as it becomes available. Update 11:00 a.m.: Swampscott Fire Capt. Kevin …

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UPDATED: Toppled Trees Takes Down Poles

One tree landed on a house and another brought down several utility poles during Saturday's wind storm.

  Susan Blonder had just come inside the house from her car parked on Barnstable Street Saturday afternoon when she heard the crack. Then her power went out. She looked out her front window and saw a downed hardwood from across the street at 36 Barnstable. It extended into her front yard, caving in a section of her retaining wall.  On its way down the tree snagged utility lines, forcing several utility poles to the ground. Two and a half hours earlier, on the other side of town, a 40- to 50-foot maple toppled at 11 Eulow St. A similar scenario played out. Only this time the tree landed on a house. The occupants were inside but unharmed, Swampscott fire Capt. Kevin Thompson said. Firefighters escorted the family from their home and the …

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Firefighting Training Day at Stanley School

What do you do when your ladder truck is out of commission? Borrow one from Melrose and train in the Stanley School parking lot.

New Swampscott firefighters Chris Dipietro and Chris Drinon had to do some training, unfortunately, the Swampscott ladder truck was in Pennsylvania getting repairs. Thanks to the folks at the Melrose fire department, there was no interruption in Dipietro and Drinon’s training. “The Chief over in Melrose was good enough to let us borrow Ladder 2 from Melrose while our ladder was getting repaired, and we were able to conduct training exercises in the parking lot at Stanley School,” Captain John Quinn said Wednesday afternoon, as Drinon and Dipietro and other members of the Swampscott fire department wrapped up their training exercise. Melrose’s Ladder 2 blasted a high stream of water over the far end of the Stanley School parking lot, which …

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Brush Fire Burns Behind Pierro Terrace

Firefighters spent more than two hours extinguishing the fire, the cause of which was unknown.

A brush fire swept over about an acre of dry leaves, dead grass and fallen trees off Pierro Terrace Sunday. Pierro Terrace is near Burpee Road in the general vicinity of the high school. Firefighters hauled their fire hoses through yards to the forested area at about 5 p.m., said Swampcott fire Capt. John Quinn.  The seven firefighters streamed and sprayed water on the burning vegetation and swept up embers with fire-resistant brooms, he said. The terrain was uneven and rocky, he said. The crew spent about 2-and-a-half hours at the scene of the fire. "I have no idea how it started," Quinn said. Lynn firefighters provided station coverage, he said.

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King's Beach Blaze

On The Mend

The three women of Peter's Tailoring got a welcome surprise this morning as they unpacked and assembled their new store.

April Fools' Day delivered a welcome surprise for the three women who have tailored clothes more than 150 years among them. The surprise came in the form of a man bearing two pairs of jeans in his arms through the door at 646 Humphrey St. Nat Cary was the first customer at Peter’s Custom Tailoring, four days before the business is scheduled to open for business and two weeks before its April 15 grand reopening. The tailoring business and five others, as well as the homes of residents, were reduced to ashes up the street in the March 1-2 fire at the Gateway Building. This morning, however, was about rebirth and happenstance. The tools of the trade that the women learned as girls of 10 and 14 were in boxes and on tables across the room. …

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King's Beach Blaze

Site Swept Clean; Lost Money Not Recovered

The March 1-2 fire at the Gateway Building is a memory but not without lessons.

The fire site’s cleanup at Humphrey and Redington Streets ended without tests of any air samples detecting excessive asbestos, the fire chief said. Cleanup crews scooped the last bucket of fire debris Wednesday and dumped the last load of fill in the cellar hole Thursday. All air samples tested 1,000 times under the threshold for asbestos standards during the debris removal, Fire Chief Kevin Breen said.  The department monitored the cleanup and air samples closely knowing that the presence of asbestos — bound up in an adhesives— concerned a lot of people, he said. The charred remnants yielded no clues to how the fire started nor did the rubble removal turn up any treasure. The fire chief thinks the fire started in the basement, but its …

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King's Beach Blaze

Displaced Owners Consider Trailers

The latest idea to help business owners floored by the March 1-2 fire is for them to locate in trailers, temporarily, so they can continue to serve their customers.

Small business counselor Peter Colarusso told the room of business owners victimized by fire that they enjoy the public's goodwill now. But like all things, that will fade over time. People will forget. "Let your customers know you are still in business," he urged the owners. They ran their businesses at the corner of Humphrey Street and Redington Street before fire destroyed the building on March 1-2. What better way, suggested local Realtor Lizette Alcalai, than rising from the ashes sooner rather than later. They could rent trailers to conduct business during the busy summer season, she suggested. Tedesco Country Club houses its pro shop and 19th hole in trailers, temporarily,  while a new building is being constructed at the site, she …

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Swampscott Businessman Offers Help For Fire Victims

Charles Patsios is offering space at 460 Humphrey St., for business owners to locate temporarily after fire claimed their stores earlier this month.

Charlie Patsios owns commercial space on Humphrey Street next to the 7-Eleven store. He figures there is room in there for three business owners who lost their shops to the March 1-2 fire at the corner of Humphrey and Redington streets. So he is offering it free to them on a temporary basis, and will even pay the electricity. "It's the right thing to do," Patsios said in an interview. "I woke up in my own house, in my own bed, with a place to go." He wants to help the owners who lost their places of business. Patsios, who has lived in Swampscott for 20 years, also wants to dispel the notion that Swampscott is anti-business. The displaced owners, Patsios, the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce, town officials and people with expertise in finance…

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King's Beach Blaze

UPDATED: Fire Debris Clean-Up Awaits Final Approval

A spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said the soonest cleanup of the fire site could "conceivably" start is Friday.

As it turns out, state environmental officials  have yet to grant final approval for an asbestos abatement plan to haul away debris leftover from the March 1-2 fire to the Gateway Building. No start date has been scheduled for the debris removal, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Spokesman Joe Ferson said today. The DEP has received a draft plan for the removal project but had questions about it and awaits a response to them from the contractor before the agency grants  project approval, Ferson said. Once debris removal starts, the DEP will conduct random checks at the site to be sure the plan is being followed, he said. Regulations require asbestos testing twice a day at six locations at the perimeter of the site, he …

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King's Beach Blaze

VIDEO: Swampscott History Buffs Talk Local Disasters

Members of the discussion group said the Gateway Building fire was the town's second largest fire and perhaps the third largest disaster in Swampscott that happened in their lifetimes.

In the wake of the fire at the Gateway Building, Lou Gallo's History Buffs, a group that meets at the Swampscott Public Library each month, recently discussed two other local disasters. They were the New Ocean House fire of 1969 and the Swampscott train wreck of 1956. Also at the meeting was history buff Jennifer Swike.

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