An In-Depth Look at the 6-Alarm Fire in Eastie and What Needs to Improve via GBH

Back in April, a 6-alarm fire raged at 430 Meridian Street, leaving 30 residents displaced, $5M in damages, and two dead, including a 10-year-old girl.   GBH wrote a feature on the aftermath of this terrible fire and the problems with the building itself and the city of Boston’s support services post-fire.

According to the article, the home on Meridian Street is listed as a single-family home, but it is being used as a rooming house.  The mother of the little girl who died paid $650 a month to share an attic apartment with another woman and man and a bathroom on the floor below.

The Inspectional Service Department last inspected this property in 2015, and tenants’ complaints to the owner included smoke detectors needing batteries, the shower not working, and lightbulbs sparking in the bathroom.

The fire itself is believed to have been caused by a short circuit in the basemen.  “Responders later found a space heater and an “array of cords” connected to an outlet adapter.”

You can read the full profile here.