Flames glowed from the roof an old mill building in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood on Saturday. Fire officials report that flames were moving across the roof of 1 Westinghouse Plaza. A firefighter was rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest.
Now, this Hyde Park fire is stoking an anger that has lived inside Kathy Crosby-Bell for over a decade. Crosby-Bell’s son, Boston Firefighter Michael Kennedy, and fellow firefighter Lt. Edward Walsh were both killed in a Back Bay blaze in 2014. The cause of the fire at a Beacon Street brownstone was determined to be sparks from unpermitted welding work on a windy day.
The cause of Saturday’s fire in Hyde Park is still under investigation but fire officials say welding was taking place at the building last weekend.
“I know a lot of fires begin because of hot works and nobody wants to track them,” Crosby-Bell said.
Legislation would increase welding oversight, training
For years, Crosby-Bell and her non-profit, the Last Call Foundation, have advocated for legislation which would increase oversight and training for welders…