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September 1997
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"Not All Stories Have Happy Endings"

by the Cambridge Fire Department

August 7, 1997 was a pleasant day in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The temperature was at a comfortable 85, with a light breeze. The Fire Department had just fought a two alarm fire in a small bungalow house at about 0100 hrs. Group 4 had been on duty for that blaze and was returning to duty at 1700 hrs. Until 1743 hrs. everything was quiet.

At 1743 hrs. many 911 calls were being received for an explosion at One Kendall Square, no specific building. The One Kendall Square Complex is a group of buildings that were originally a manufacturing complex for the old Boston Woven Hose Company, manufacturers of fire hose and other rubber products. The buildings were rebuilt into offices and research labs for biotech companies. Additionally, there were restaurants and even a microbrewery on site. The thought of an explosion in this area was terrifying. Box 2381 was struck for this explosion which resulted in Engines 2, 3, 5, Ladders 2, 3, Rescue 1 and C-2 responding.

Engine 2 arrived at Portland and Hampshire Streets and reported that several manholes had their covers blown off. Thick, billowing black smoke was pouring from one of them. It appeared to be a short in an electrical cable either feeding or being fed by the Power Company's substation located within 100 feet of this intersection. Within several minutes a cable repair crew for Cambridge Electric Light Company was assembled. They needed to vent the vault, wait for the temperature too drop inside, and measure the air quality before entering the confined space. The resulting power outage affected many of the office buildings in the surrounding area, just beside M.I.T.'s campus. During the next hour the Fire Department responded to many calls for stuck elevators and fire alarms in buildings affected by the outage. After turning the scene over to Cambridge Electric, the Fire Department left the scene. A television news crew was in the area and was filming the explosion aftermath, this would prove to be critical later on.

At about 1900 hrs. everything had quieted down and was returning to normal. Then a 1907 hrs. there was a brownout in the fire station. Power returned quickly, then at 1908 hrs. the tone came in... Engine 5, Rescue 1, and ALS responded back to Portland and Hampshire Streets. Police on the scene reported that several people were on fire. Meanwhile, other companies were being dispatched to other buildings whose fire alarms had been tripped. Engine 5, C-2 and Professional ALS Ambulance arrived at 1910 hrs. C-2 quickly took command of the incident. Several men were lying on the ground with burns and thick greenish-yellow smoke was pouring into the sunny blue sky from one of the open manholes. A quick triage was established.

There was still one man left in the hole. The other victims were being attended to by EMS and firefighters. Two Cambridge Electric employees were hurt with second and third degree burns. Cambridge Police Officer Bob Pasco received burns to his hands and smoke inhalation. These men were standing around the manhole when the explosion occurred. At the bottom of the hole was Doug Pollander, a 24-year employee of Cambridge Electric. He was a chief cable splicer. At the time of the accident he was using a mirror to check the condition of the cables in the vault. The water in the vault had been pumped down and only a couple inches remained. With his body bent over the cables, the power surged and the explosion occurred. The fireball enveloped Doug and vented through the opening. High levels of CO were registered in the vault.

After assessing the situation it was agreed by rescuers that this was now a body recovery operation and no longer a rescue. Efforts were being made to perform the recovery, ventilation of the vault, requesting lock out/tag out of the power to the vault and monitoring air quality. The most difficult control was the lockout/tagout. The power company's operations were at a remote site, in Wareham, Massachusetts. There was also no way to test if the power was completely off. While city and power company officials worked to get confirmation the power was off, the confined space rescue equipment was delivered to the site and a crew was assembled from various fire companies. The Harvard University Confined Space Team was also requested and responded with their equipment. This provided the rescuers with redundancy in some equipment, just as a precaution.

Fortunately, there was a tree and a wheel from the utility truck to provide adequate anchors. The tripod was assembled, air lines, safety lines, a 4 to 1 rigging system and a communication system was set up. Finally, a confirmed shut down was accomplished only after all power was shut down to a one mile radius area which was about half the city.

The two-man rescue team descended the ladder into the vault, the ladder was removed, and the victim was directly under the hole, laying face down in several inches of muck. The Troll Body EVac was used to secure the victim who was about 6'6" and weighed nearly 250 lbs. The victim was secured in about ten minutes.

After removal of the victim, the ladder was returned to the hole and the crew came back up. They were exhausted from the intense heat inside the vault. They were immediately decontaminated and sent to the hospital for a checkup. Results of testing showed high levels of lead contamination. Immediately, all equipment was broken down and soiled equipment was trashed into a hazmat drum. All ropes used in the operation were tagged for training purposes only. Power was gradually restored to the city and at 2310 hrs. power to the area of Portland and Hampshire Streets was restored.

As a footnote, the television news crew was on the scene from the original power outage. They continued to videotape even when the second explosion occurred. More reporters arrived and filmed the entire operation from several vantage points. A decision was made early to hang tarps in attempt to thwart the cameras but it was to no avail. When the body was removed all floodlights were shut down and just a couple of hand lights were on. The next rescue of this kind, should there be one, hopefully will be a rescue, with a happy ending.

The entire Urban H.A.R.T. staff would like to thank the Cambridge Fire Department for sending in their story. If you or your department has a story you would like to share please E-mail it to us. We'll see you next month!

E-mail your comments to: [email protected]. Thank you for your reply.

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