SPRINGFIELD – A fire broke out Monday in one of the historic row houses on Maple Street, adding a new challenge to the battle to save the buildings.
A 911 caller reported seeing smoke coming from 174 Maple St., the first house in the line of six. The building is the same one that went up in flames in January, said Fire Capt. Drew Piedmont.
The fire started at about 2:20 pm in the hall of the second floor. Firefighters were able to keep it from spreading far beyond the hall and it did not damage the adjacent building at 176 Maple St., he said.
Although the blaze was relatively small, a second alarm was struck because more manpower was needed to help rip off boards securing the vacant building. Firefighters mostly accessed the blaze by a ladder through a second-story building and from the exterior, he said.
The building is marked with a red X denoting it is dangerous for firefighters to enter. But they carefully went in Monday to ensure no one was inside and injured — and to determine if the fire was fully extinguished, he said.
A limited number of firefighters entered the building to confirm the fire was extinguished. Investigators will also enter, likely with a dog, to try to determine the cause of the blaze.
“The building is vacant, the water and the utilities are off,” he said. “Even though it is boarded up, we have a lot of squatters and vagrants getting in the building.”
The cause of the last fire, discovered at about 10 pm Jan. 28, remains undetermined because of limited access by fire investigators, due to the instability of the building.
A view of the Maple Street rowhouses earlier this year. (The Republican / file photo)
That fire is believed to have started on the third floor or attic area. It burned through the roof, which collapsed, and made the third floor unstable. Beams holding up that floor are heavily damaged and the building is designed in a way that if they give way, the floor will come crashing down to the next level, he said.
This is the third fire in that historic row house in several years. The first fire was fairly small and did not cause serious damage, Piemonte said.
The six row houses in a line are deemed historic and architecturally significant. They were built in 1873 in the high Victorian Gothic style.
But the houses have been neglected for years and are included on the Springfield Preservation Trust’s list of most endangered historic buildings. They are all vacant and boarded up, save one in the middle, where a lawyer’s office is located, Piemonte said.
Just days before the January fire, developer Paul J. Bongiorni and his business partner, Nick Turnberg, purchased four of the buildings, numbered 178, 180, 182 and 184, from real estate investor Roger Roberge.
The Community Preservation Committee awarded the developers, who are operating under the name Maple Street LLC, a $300,000 grant in June to help with exterior renovations of the buildings.
The entire project is expected to cost more than $5 million and will create a dozen market-rate apartments. Each building is four floors and measures about 1,000 square feet.
Looking for developer
The city acquired the last two, 174 and 176, through a tax foreclosure process more than a decade ago and has tried unsuccessfully to sell them since. The Community Preservation Committee also agreed in June to set aside another $300,000 for those two properties as an additional incentive for a developer willing to renovate and reuse the homes.
“We are trying to take every step short of demolition,” said Tim Sheehan, planning and economic development director.
Staff was just completing paperwork to go out to pray again to find a developer when the fire started. That plan is now on hold until the property is evaluated, Sheehan said.
The city’s building inspector will return to 174 Maple St. to assess the structural integrity of the property and determine what steps should be taken. Just before Monday’s fire, the roof was covered by a tarp and the condition is poor.
“They have shared walls and that is the concern. If you take one building down, are you exposing an interior shared wall? What does that mean to the structural integrity?” Sheehan asked.
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