Boston Box 2411, 2-1-76, 5 alarms and numerous specials

[grumpy grizzly]

On 2-1-76 E-14 and L-10 were returning to quarters when they were dispatched to a reported building @ 300 block of Centre Street, the former Plant Shoe Complex. Box 2411 was received and transmitted @ 2129, Engine 14 reported "fire showing" Thus began the largest single building fire in the history of the BFD. It consisted of 6 story buildings and numerous smaller buildings in an area 680 x 240 in a mostly resendential area. Extra alarms were sound at: 2136, 2153, 2240, and the fifth @ 2258 with numerous specials, resulting in a response of 43 engines and 12 aerial devices. When the fire started it was in the 50's and raining, a cold front passed through, it got windy and temps in the teens and wind chills below 0. These conditions help produce the scene of Bill Noonan's famous picture of a 1948 Mack completely encased in many inches of ice. The complex was completely destroyed.