3-Alarm Fire In Brookline Causes $1M Damages: Fire Chief

BROOKLINE, MA — Fire officials said it looked like a heating vent may have caused the three-alarm fire that ripped through a $1.4 million 2-unit home on Carlton Street, displacing at least four people and causing some $1 million in estimated damages.

No residents were injured, though two firefighters had injuries, and four people a family in one unit and just one man in the other and at least one pet were displaced, according to fire officials.

Chief of Operations Keith Flaherty confirmed to the Patch that although the investigation was ongoing as of late Thursday evening the cause of the fire was believed to be a faulty HVAC unit in the basement of 5 Carlton street.
"Damages are estimated at one million dollars," said Flaherty

Around 2:30 a.m. the smoke detectors in Unit 5 went off. Cameron Pforr, who lives there, said his younger daughter came in to wake him up. He took a walk around the small condo and seeing nothing, figured it was a false alarm. It was not. Within minutes of that walk the home began filling with smoke.

"I was surprised by the speed of which the house filled. It's not a huge house but it is open and the first and second floors filled within a minute," he told Patch outside his home as the sun came up. He and his daughter were bringing buckets of water out of the basement and house after firefighters wrapped up. He said someone had told him the cause might have had something to do with air ducts, but that was yet to be determined.

Also yet to be determined was just how much damage the home sustained. At 7 a.m. a state fire inspector was on scene. Pforr said it looked like mostly smoke and water damage in his unit.

The fire started in Unit 5 on 5 Carlton just before 2:30 a.m., when someone in the home called 911 to report it but it spread quickly to the adjacent unit 3 next door where in the morning light fire damage was visible in the back roof area of that unit. A photo by Brookline resident Alex Ashlock, who lives close enough to have woken up smelling smoke, shows that entire unit engulfed in flame sometime after 3 a.m.

Although there was no immediate assessment, Firefighters told Patch it would be a while before anyone could live in the home because of the damage.

Pforr just moved here about a year ago from Washington Square, he said. He and his family planned to head to a hotel for the night.

"We were just fortunate to get out," said Pforr.

Cambridge, Newton and Boston also responded. The home was built in 1964, and was last assessed to be worth $1,445,400. (Head to Brookline Patch on Facebook for more photos)

Brookline resident Alex Ashlock, who happens to be journalist at WBUR was on the scene in the early hours:

Photos at the top by Alex Ashlock, courtesy. [ Editor's note: At one point in an earlier version of this story, Patch referred to him as Tom. Nope. That's not his name. Patch regrets that error].