Sadness hung in the air along Centre Street. The television news live trucks have filled up the parking lot at CVS. The t.v. reporters are doing their live shots across the street from the firehouse in West Roxbury which is mourning two deaths from last night’s fire. Usually on a sunny day like this, a few guys from the fire house have chairs set up along the street so they can watch the world go by. Today the world’s eyes are on them.
This is a loss that will cut through this neighborhood hard. Michael Levenson of The Boston Globe captured the dynamic when he quoted a resident saying “it’s a fire-police neighborhood.” The local Roche Brothers Supermarket is like a company store for city employees. Our condolences go out to the families of Paul Cahill and Warren Payne who fell in the fire. We hope the injured have speedy recoveries.
This is nothing new for the Boston Fire Department. It’s just shocking to have such a reminder of the fragility of life right in our midst.
Dispatches from Seth Gitell 