Low water pressure hinders efforts to save Lynn house

Lynn, Mass — There’s a hydrant just across the street -- but it turns out inadequate water contributed to the destruction of 30 Broadway, a multi-family structure that went up in flames before noon Saturday.

“The fire started underneath their fire escape,” said neighbor Josephine Russo Leonard.

And it quickly spread -- threatening houses on either side and actually igniting a fire in a wooded area behind the structure. Russo Leonard said a handful of neighbors put that out.

“They climbed the woods and brought buckets of water,” she said.

Out front, crews from multiple communities struggled to get the fire under control.

“When I first showed up, we had heavy fire showing from the left-hand side of the building extending to the rear,” said Deputy Chief Joseph Zukas, who also serves as the public information officer for the Lynn Fire Department. “We had hotspots going all night and into today.”

Zukas said the wind hindered their progress.  But the biggest problem firefighters faced was a lack of water pressure. While the burning structure was on a major street -- which should have meant copious water -- its location on the Lynn/Peabody line meant the area was served by a water main more akin to what’s found on a small or dead-end street, Zukas said.

These ‘dead-end’ mains also mark the point where one community’s water system ends and another’s begins -- with the two systems unconnected.

The loss of water pressure was both sudden and unexpected.

“We have a nice stream going against the building, trying to knock the flames and heat and fire down and then all of a sudden the water goes,” Zukas said. “And the hose goes to nothing.”

That forced firefighters to lay down hose to more distant hydrants -- a process which allowed the fire to spread further.

“The fire’s not stopping for us to get water,” Zukas said. “It’s continuing.”

Sunday, from the air, the scene looked similar to a plane crash site -- with the smoldering remains of the house cratered into the basement. And yet no resident was injured -- though one firefighter needed medical attention.

In all eleven people were displaced -- seven adults and four children.

“God Bless our firefighters, our police -- you know, all those involved,” said Russo Leonard.

“This was not just a fire. It was an inferno.”

Zukas said the low water pressure issue is something the department is looking into -- because knowing there was a dead-end main servicing the area might have changed the department’s operation. .

“If there’s an area that has a dead-end main, maybe we need to get more engines there with more water,” he said. “Everybody got out and on a personal note, my daughter knows a girl who lives in the house. So it hit home for me. I’ve been in this house before.”

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