by Brian A. McDonald
News Photos by Russell Koty

City firefighters responded to a fire at 12:52 p.m Sept. 2 at a multi-family house 4 Foskett St., which killed one man and injured three, two critically.

Burns to the deceased were so severe that his identity has not yet been determined. Dental impressions have been taken from the deceased and a full identification is forthcoming. The identities of the injured are being withheld pending notification of their families, said Mass. State Police Det. Sgt. Robert L. Bachelder of the state’s fire marshal office.

Elliot J. Kerner, an off-duty Somerville Fire fighter, said he was cutting his aunt’s grass on Appleton Street when he smelled smoke.

“I pulled the firebox on Willow Avenue and reached for my cell phone to call in the address, but it was dead,” he said.

Once on site, he obtained a cell phone from a bystander and called in the alarm with the address, Kerner said.

Kerner saw two men on the sidewalk and another struggling to exit the house. One of the men on the sidewalk appeared to be suffering from minor injuries, the other, having torn off his shirt, was showing burns to his chest, arms, and neck, he said.

He approached the third man, who was making his way out of the building and was stopped on the threshold. He was moaning and suffering from severe third degree burns, Kerner said.

Kerner said he then yelled: “I need some water, get me some water!” and neighbors responded by dragging a hose to the yard.

Then he rushed to assist the man in the doorway, whose clothes had been burned off and his body was covered 100 percent in burns, he said. “There was nothing left to burn, he was naked.”

Once he was able to bring the man outside the house, Kerner sat him on the front step and hosed him down to provide some relief from the burning, he said.

Kerner said he could not communicate with the man, but was unable to do so as the victim was in severe pain and could not speak English.

The least severely injured of the three workers who escaped the building was in a state of shock and was screaming, Kerner said.

He tried to communicate with this man to determine if there were more workers inside but was again unsuccessful, Kerner said.

The fire was a three-alarm fire, said Fire Chief Kevin W. Kelleher.

“We had 10 engine companies and six ladder companies on site–around 60 firefighters,” he said.

Engine companies came from Boston, Cambridge and Everett and ladder companies were called in from Cambridge, Boston and Medford joined Somerville firefighters, he said.

The fire was a flash fire, said Fire Department Lt. Daniel R. DiPalma.

It started at the base of the stairwell connecting the second and third floors of the apartment building. The four men, working for Dave’s Flooring Services of 38 Osgood St., are believed to have been working their way, back to front, out of the apartment when the fire broke out, Dipalma said. “It was not an explosion.”

Dipalma said he believed they were engulfed in flame as a cloud of vapors from the lacquer sealant they were using ignited at the base of the stairs, trapping them between the immediate exit and a wall of flames.

The lacquer sealant used in priming sanded floors is extremely flammable and if the area is not well ventilated the conditions become extremely dangerous, said a Somerville man, who owns a flooring business, but asked that his name not be used.

He learned his lesson having nearly experienced a flash fire himself. While applying the sealant onto a sanded hardwood floor in a studio in the city, a small plume of smoke emanated from the oven range, he said.

That was enough for him. He no longer uses the sealant in the kitchen and appreciates the danger of using the sealant, he said.

He has family in his employment and takes great pains to insure their safety. “I disconnect all electrical sources to the site, and no longer use the sealant in the kitchen which is where most of the accidents occur,” he said.

Timothy D. Stein, the owner of the building, said he was present in his first floor apartment while the men were refinishing the floors of the third floor apartment, where the fire started.

Stein said he was getting into the shower at the time of the fire. Over the rush of the water he heard what sounded like a large machine, he said.

He turned off the water and tried to determine what was making the sound. “It sounded wrong,” he said.

Unable to determine where the sound was coming from he left the shower to investigate. He and a friend also in the apartment noticed smoke, he said.

Stein then grabbed his cat and they made an escape out the back of the house to safety and called 911, he said.

Stein said he was very upset for the victims and their families. “My heart really goes out to them.”

“I’m just salvaging what I can of my personal belongings,” said Barbara A. Qurollo, who lives on the second floor of the house.

Qurollo was not there during the blaze, she said. Her apartment sufffered water and smoke damage, and the ceilings of various rooms have caved in.

“It looked like Hiroshima,” Kerner said, who has 20 years experience as a firefighter and six years prior as a paramedic.

It was one to the worst experiences he can remember, he said.

The three survivors were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where they remain. One man is ambulatory and the two other are in critical condition.

William Ellis of the city fire department’s Ladder 3, was taken to Cambridge City Hospital and treated for exhaustion and smoke inhalation, Kelleher said.

It’s been an extremely busy month for Somerville firefighters. “This is the fifth major fire since August,” he said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.