Wood-Framed Building in Dorchester Destroyed, Causes $250,000 in Damage

December 16, 2019

Dorchester's second severe fire since 2017

Silver Spring, MD — A two-alarm fire roared through a multi-family home in Dorchester on Tuesday afternoon, as firefighters arrived to heavy flames throughout the structure. The fire caused an estimated $250,000 worth of damage, and there are no known injuries. The building, located on Saco Street near Neponset Avenue, was a three-story wood-framed building, and three residents have been displaced.

This is Dorchester’s second devastating fire in the past year, both fueled by combustible, woodframed construction. In the past few years, there have been numerous fires across the country in buildings using combustible materials, including in Denver, CO' Los Angeles, CA' Princeton, NJ' Tucker, GA' Lowell, MA' St. Petersburg, FL' Arlington, VA' and dozens of other locations coast to coast.

“In Boston and throughout the nation, families are losing their homes – or worse – to preventable fires in combustible buildings,” said Kevin Lawlor, spokesperson for Build with Strength, a coalition of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association consisting of community organizations, fire safety professionals, engineers, architects and industry experts committed to strengthening the nation’s building codes and ensuring greater access to secure housing. “When prevention is so simple, there is no longer an excuse for inaction. Strong, resilient building materials are the safest and smartest way to keep our families safe from these preventable fires.”

Build with Strength, a coalition of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), has launched a campaign to educate citizens, local and state officials, and industry experts about the inherent dangers of wood-framed construction, particularly in multi-story, residential and commercial buildings. As a grassroots organization, they work with local elected officials and industry workers, from architects to project managers to advocate for the safety benefits of working with concrete-based construction.

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