160 firefighters worked to save the residents of a Boston apartment complex today, shortly after 12:30AM when a failed suicide attempt set the complex ablaze. Police suspect that Mohamed Abdul Jabar a 28 year old from Medford, Mass., caused the blast after lighting a match next to an open gas stove. The massive fire injured 14 people & damaged or destroyed about 50 homes, leaving many homeless.
Amanda Mullen
A failed suicide attempt inside a Boston apartment complex sparked a massive explosion and fire that destroyed the building, injured 14 people and left dozens of residents homeless.
Police suspect that Mohamed Abdul Jabar, 28, of Medford, Mass., caused the blast around 12:30 a.m. Monday by lighting a match next to an open gas stove inside a relative’s first-floor apartment in Roxbury, the Boston Globe reported.
Officials called the rescue effort one of the largest in recent memory, as firefighters used ladders to pluck some 15 residents from blown out windows and ledges as fire and smoke tore through the 3-story, U-shaped complex.
In one particularly harrowing moment, a woman trapped on the top floor was forced to drop her 6-year-old grandson into the outstretched arms of a firefighter three stories below.
“Thank God I caught him,” Lieutenant Glenn McGillivray told the Globe. “I’ve never had to do that before, and I hope I never have to do it again.”
Fire officials said ten residents, three firefighters and a police officer were take to area hospitals, mostly for smoke inhalation.
Shortly after the fire, Jabar showed up at Boston Medical Center with burns to his face, hands and arms and admitted to staff there that he “blew up his house,” police said.
He is expected to face several charges, including arson and attempted murder.
Police said his injuries were not life threatening.
Authorities said more than 160 firefighters fought the blaze, which caused walls to collapse, spewed bricks onto the street and damaged or destroyed about 50 apartments.
“I’ve been on 21 years, and I’ve never been to a fire with more rescues. Ever,” fire Lieutenant Tom Blake told the Globe.
The city opened a shelter for the residents whose homes were destroyed.
Investigators told the Globe it will probably be a year until many can return.
