Somerville firefighters responded to a fire at the Winter Hill Laundromat early Sunday morning, Dec. 22.

Somerville firefighters responded to a fire at the Winter Hill Laundromat early Sunday morning, December 22. Firefighters found flames burning inside the rear of the building which had spread into a wall and across the ceiling. The fire was reported by a passerby who spotted flames inside the business at 1:33 a.m. The one story building is located at 483 Broadway just outside of Magoun Square. The fire is believed to have originated in a clothes dryer. Firefighters had to force entry into the building which was closed at the time. Firefighters broke out several large plate glass windows to ventilate the heavy smoke and also cut a hole in the roof to stop the spread of fire above the ceiling. The building suffered extensive damage from fire, smoke and water in excess of $100,000.

A fire last week on Monday, December 16 also resulted in excess of $100,000 damage to the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail (MBCR) repair facility located at 70R Third Avenue in the city’s Innerbelt area. Firefighters responding to a fire alarm activation at the large facility found a fire burning in the locomotive repair area. The fire appears to have originated in the ventilation system due to an excessive build up of diesel soot. Fire was burning in the ceiling ductwork and burning debris had also dropped down and ignited numerous smaller fires in the repair area. The fire was reported at 3:04 p.m. and firefighters were on scene for approximately 90 minutes extinguishing the fire. The fire also disrupted commuter rail service to the North Shore for a time.

– Somerville Fire Deptartment