Avalon Apartments Fire In NJ Concerns Mass. Firefighters
BOSTON (CBS) – A massive fire that recently ripped through a luxury apartment complex in New Jersey is serving as a wake-up call for Massachusetts firefighters.
About a 1,000 people lived at the four-story Avalon complex in Edgewater before every unit there was destroyed.
No one died during the fire.
Investigators say the sprinklers were working and the building was up to code but the light-weight construction of the building and roof made it easy to burn and not an easy fire to extinguish.
In Massachusetts, there are 37 Avalon apartment complexes, most of them identical to the one in New Jersey. They are high-end rentals in a tight housing market.
When a fire starts in a large complex, getting out can be difficult and getting fire crews in can be challenging.
"A lot of those large-scale apartment buildings are built with what firefighters call 'light-weight construction,'" Eric Fricke of the Newton Fire Departmenttold WBZ-TV.
"It creates large void spaces between the floors and in the attic which allows fire to spread rapidly."
In February 2013, an Avalon complex in Wilmington was ravaged by a fire.
The Wilmington fire chief told WBZ that there weren't enough sprinklers to accommodate truss roof construction, which is thin and full of gaps.
A fire also destroyed another Avalon development in Quincy in July 2011.
The Quincy fire chief was concerned about the lack of protective firewall.
Since fire officials can't stop large complexes from being built, they are focusing instead on building up protection.
Three years ago, Massachusetts codes were updated, requiring sprinklers on every balcony and in attics at complexes.
"So the buildings are well-sprinklered and we've made them as safe as we can," Ficke said.
Michael Feigin, chief construction officer for AvalonBay, released a statement about the fire in New Jersey.
"The Avalon at Edgewater community was built using wood frame construction, a standard, common and safe construction method for multifamily housing used throughout the United States," he said.
"The community was built in accordance with the fire and safety codes applicable at the time."
