Cambridge firefighters suffer chemical burns while fighting overnight fire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A dozen firefighters were rushed to the hospital after suffering chemical burns while fighting a fire, according to Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Cahill.

Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, the fire alarm went off at a five-story apartment building at 355 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge. When firefighters got there, there was fire and smoke on the fourth floor. Officials tell Boston 25 News when they tried to extinguish the fire, the water “reacted with chemicals that had breached their original containers and created the initial chemical reaction.”

The assistant fire chief says 12 firefighters were taken to local hospitals for chemical burns to their hands after the chemicals penetrated their firefighting gear. Those 12 firefighters have since been released from the hospital.

UPDATE: the 12 @CambridgeMAFire firefighters who suffered chemical burns while fighting a fire in this apartment building on Mass Ave have non-life threatening injuries. @boston25 pic.twitter.com/pIUrGfw2wh
— Kelly Sullivan (@ksullivannews) July 28, 2021

“The difficulty was identifying the chemicals, that took external resources. Normally our resources from Cambridge were the ones that would’ve identified the chemicals, but they were transported to local hospitals,” said Assistant Chief Cahill.

Teams determined the chemicals involved were “food-grade peroxide and ammonia that combined creating the exothermic reaction.”

Cahill says the apartment unit where this happened was empty at the time, so they are trying to figure out who lived there and why the chemicals were in the apartment.

The Red Cross is helping more than ten adults who were forced to evacuate. It’s unclear when people will be allowed back in the building.

The 12 sets of firefighting gear and miscellaneous equipment has been placed out of service as the department waits for them to be cleaned and rendered safe.

The assistant fire chief says the apartment unit was empty where the fire was. They are trying to figure out who lived there. The @RedCrossMA is helping more than 10 adults who were forced to evacuate this apartment building. pic.twitter.com/jCRBVMbhub
— Kelly Sullivan (@ksullivannews) July 28, 2021