One hero jake was killed today and another seriously injured after both rushed into a blazing triple-decker in Worcester that caught on fire before dawn trying to rescue a missing tenant.
The fallen firefighter, Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio announced, is Jon Davies, a 17-year veteran of the force. The 43-year-old leaves behind three sons, two of whom are in the military, one currently serving in Afghanistan, in addition to a sister and fiancee.
The firefighter who was injured at the Arlington Street fire is Brian Carroll, 40, a 14-year veteran of the Worcester Fire Department.
“It’s too emotional and I’d like to keep my composure” a visibly shaken Dio said at a press conference today when asked to speak about his men. He did say the two were sent inside the building to hunt for a missing occupant who has yet to be accounted for.
While inside, the back of the building gave way trapping Carroll in the cellar and Davies on the first floor, the chief said. The missing tenant lived in the back of the building.
Davies’ fiancee told the Herald today: “He was the best man I have ever known.” She spoke as she loaded memorabilia into her car, including a firefighter’s dress uniform, an American flag and what looked to be a bronze plaque.
She didn’t want to say anything more because his sons are not back from military service yet.
“It is a truly sad day for our neighborhood,” said Mullen Sawyer, 50, a neighborhood activist. “We’re just horrified that somebody trying to help has been harmed in the process.”
Davies was rushed to the hospital as the department chaplain rode along with him to be by his side.
The fire broke out in the three-story complex at about 4 a.m. in the Vernon Hill area of the city. That building, on 49 Arlington St., has a history of violations, city officials said this evening.
The flames were whipped by wind gusts at the apartment complex. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan were at the scene soon after the sun came up.
Neighbors tell the Herald the neighborhood has been plagued with arson fires recently and copper pipes have been torn out of some of the older buildings by thieves looking to cash in. There was also another early morning blaze on Arlington Street just weeks ago that rattled residents.
Neighbor Stephanie Laythe, 18, said this morning’s fire lit up the sky: “It was blazing and the wind was pushing the fire … you could see the building tilting and everything just fell.”
The fire is now out and the damage appears to be mostly in the back of the triple-decker. The building remains smoking, and the district attorney’s office has been called in to assist in the investigation.
Sawyer, who works in the area, said everyone was already thinking of the six Worcester jakes who lost their lives 12 years ago this week in the infamous Worcester Cold Storage warehouse inferno. That fire broke out on Dec. 3, 1999.
“It didn’t take much for those memories to come back,” Sawyer added while at the scene of the charred apartment complex
“The firefighters of Worcester are no strangers to tragedy. And today, unfortunately, the dangerous calling these firefighters took the oath to do has left us devastated once again,” said Edward Kelly, president of Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.
Kelly, the former Boston firefighter union boss, is at the scene of the Worcester blaze today and he added: “We ask the people of Worcester as well as the people of the Commonwealth to keep Worcester firefighters and their families in their prayers.”
The Cold Storage warehouse fire more than a decade ago also killed firefighters when they went inside to help rescue two homeless people. Walls collapsed on firefighters that day, too. And, the homeless victims, it was proven later, had already escaped.
Davies was on the department at the time of the cold storage fire in 1999, but the chief did not know whether he was actually dispatched to that fire.
Catrina Caseday, who lives across the street from the scene of the fire on 49 Arlington St., said she and her husband wandered in and out of their home watching the mayhem unfold. Only one other neighbor came outside, she said.
“We woke up 4 a.m. We were awakened by the fire trucks. It wasn’t the sound of the sirens that woke us up, it was the lights and the sounds of the engines,” she said. “We’ve been in and out all morning seeing what’s been going on. It was awful it was really just an awful sight to see the fire.
“We’ve had so many fires in the area lately that we’re kind of out of neighborhood on this side of Arlington Street,” she said.
She said there have been four arson fires set in the past five months. She said neighbors in at least two of the three apartments in the building that burned this morning had moved out about a month ago.
“All the other houses have had their pipes stolen first and been set on fire a week following. We’ve had four fires on this street in the last five months,” she said. “It’s really concerning in the neighborhood where all these fires are going on.”
