A Fire at a Firehouse? Ironic, But No Easier to Fight, Concord Chief Says

CONCORD, MA – A fire in a fire station? It seems firefighters would be best equipped to handle an emergency in-house, but that's not always the case, and at Concord Fire Station 2, the opposite may have been true.

Concord Fire Chief Mark Cotreau told Patch Friday the blaze earlier this week at a Concord fire house was no different than any other fire in a building's truck bay – except the closest response was involved in the fire itself.

That meant the first fire engines had to come from the next nearest station downtown at 209 Walden St., increasing the response time.

"There was certainly no advantage, and actually the fact that it was in the firehouse meant that that apparatus that would usually go out was not available," Cotreau said.

Despite the operational snag, the fire was quickly contained early Wednesday morning, leaving a sea of material casualties, but thankfully no human ones. In fact, the three on-duty firefighters who escaped without donning any protective gear were back at work the next day, Cotreau said.

Cleanup began Friday at Station 2, as crews sifted through the rubble to determine what can be salvaged and what will have to be replaced. Cotreau said they are still waiting on an official assessment of Engine 4, where the blaze is thought to have originated.

Preliminary estimates of the cost to replace Engine 4, if necessary, are upwards of half a million dollars.

Cotreau said the department won't know everything that will need replacing – and how much that will cost – for some time, but some of the suits and breathing apparatuses will need to be scrapped. Others will be cleaned, tested and, Cotreau hopes, placed back into service.

"It's a recovery effort, like any other business that would've had the same scenario," he said.

The two-alarm fire at Station 2 began around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, causing significant damage to the first floor and damage to the second floor and emergency vehicles. Three on-duty firefighters, Lt. Brad Ferrie, Bill Haugh and Kevin Fagerquist, escaped the fire.

The Concord Fire Department has set up an interim post at the Concord Municipal Light Plant, with a fire engine and ambulance running out of the warehouse, until a long-term, but still temporary, location is found.

Images via Concord Fire Department