On Wednesday night, the Boston Fire Department (BFD) reported to the Living Learning Center (LLC) following an active fire, contained to the 16th floor.
At 6:34 p.m., the official BFD X (formerly Twitter) posted that fire alarms had been activated on 6 Avenue Louis Pasteur, and at the time, all companies were working on the high-rise.
At 7:06 p.m., a second post was created reporting that the heavy fire was knocked down and that they had to run hand lines over ladders to successfully reach and extinguish the flames.
Brian Alkins, the BFD public information officer, reported to the Voice that the companies left the scene around 8:30 p.m. after overhauling and extinguishing hot spots.
A statement from Skanska given to the Voice stated, “Last night at approximately 6:45 p.m., the Boston Fire Department responded to the Living and Learning Center construction site as an insulating blanket on the temporary scaffolding system at the exterior of the building started burning. The fire was outside of the building and extremely minor in nature and was quickly extinguished. Fire retardant tarps were in place, and the fire caused no damage to the building. This will cause no delay to our work.”
Alkins shared that, “The cause of the fire is still under investigation. There were no injuries to report.”
One main concern has circulated amongst the Simmons community, particularly on the school’s YikYak: No communication from the university was issued during or after the event.
Laura Brink Pisinski, vice president of university real estate and facility management, said in response, “We send emergency messages through the RAVE system or via email if there is an immediate potential impact to the safety of our community – such as if we need to evacuate, shelter in place, avoid an area of campus due to safety concerns. The fire that occurred on Wednesday was contained and extinguished within 10 minutes. At no time was the Simmons community at risk.”
