40 Years Ago, 15 People Perished in One of Massachusetts’s Deadliest Fires
“[T]he memory of the fire and its victims is seared into the brains of those who lived through it”
Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the Elliott Chambers Rooming House fire in Beverly. Fifteen people were killed by the blaze, making it the deadliest in Massachusetts since the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire.
I published a story about the fire in April:
It was the early morning of July 4, 1984. Beverly police officer Duane Hathaway was driving down Rantoul Street when he heard the owner of the Sunray Bakery screaming to get his attention. Hathaway turned his cruiser around then came to a stop, and the owner pointed to a rooming house a few blocks away.
It was on fire.
…
At 4:18 AM, Hathaway radioed the police station that he was investigating a fire in progress then raced a half-mile to the source: the Elliott Chambers Rooming House.
The three-story building, located at the corner of Rantoul and Elliott, contained the Davis Drug pharmacy, a barbershop, a TV repair shop, and a law office on the first floor. The two upper floors functioned as a rooming house where 36 people lived, among them some of the city’s poorest residents. Some were psychiatric patients placed in the building by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. The “rooming house … served as a home of last resort for many luckless people,” as The Beverly Times would put it the following day.
When Hathaway arrived, he saw “flames shooting out from the front entrance” and “billowing straight up to the second and third floors,” according to his written report.
Firefighters arrived moments later and began an hours-long battle to rescue trapped residents and extinguish the blaze. Before firefighters began applying water, they used ladders to save nine people, some of whom were hanging from windows. A few people jumped instead of waiting for help. Others went deeper into the burning building instead of remaining at the windows, and “firefighters were nearly sobbing with frustration” when they were unable to save them, according to The Beverly Times.
Despite the efforts of first responders, 14 people died that morning, most from burns or smoke inhalation. One man jumped from a third-story window, hit a traffic-control box, landed on the pavement right in front of Hathaway moments after the officer arrived on scene, and was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital. A fifteenth victim — who emerged from the building as it blazed, his body badly burned — died of respiratory failure a month later.
…
If you visit the corner of Rantoul and Elliott in Beverly now, you won’t find the Elliott Chambers Rooming House. Instead, you’ll find a CVS filling in for the now-defunct Davis Drug. But you’ll still see evidence that something horrible took place there once upon a time.
A modest hunk of polished granite rests between two benches. Affixed to it is a bronze plaque engraved with the names and ages of the 15 people who were killed by the fire. The monument was donated by the Elliott Chambers Fire Memorial Foundation in 2010.
In late June, Beverly firefighters attended to the monument in preparation for the anniversary.
“The site was in pretty tough shape,” Beverly Fire Chief Peter O’Connor said. “While [the firefighters] were there, they pressure washed, weeded, cleaned up trash, and spread mulch.”
Firefighters returned Thursday morning to clean up additional trash, lay a basket of flowers, and leave a note, O’Connor said.
The note reads:
Forty years ago, on July 4, 1984, at 418 am, a fire broke out at the Elliott Chambers rooming house on this location. What ensued in the minutes after was a tragic, but courageous battle by residents, emergency responders, and witnesses to save as many lives as possible.
Despite heroic efforts, fifteen people lost their lives that early morning. None of them deserved their fate. Many had already been living a very challenging life. At nine years old, Young Ralph Nickerson never got a chance to experience many of life’s milestones.
The world has moved on. The Elliott Chambers building has long been removed. While most don't know anything about the fire, the memory of the fire and its victims is seared into the brains of those who lived through it. It is our responsibility to remember this fire and those that were lost. We owe it to the victims and the survivors to ensure that a fire like this never happens again.
As you walk through this area, please take a moment to remember those we lost. More importantly, remember them after you leave here. When you are presented with the opportunity to help someone, no matter how small the gesture might be, go ahead and help. You never know what battles they might be facing.
Your Beverly Firefighters
I became interested in the Elliott Chambers fire when I learned about James Carver, who in 1989 was convicted of setting the fire and murdering the 15 victims but has maintained his innocence and is currently seeking a new trial.
My most recent piece about Carver’s efforts to overturn his conviction is here:
Although I’ve been focused on the criminal case, I plan to write a piece that focuses on people whose lives were affected by the fire. While researching this story, I’ve spoken with someone who survived the fire, people whose family members were killed, and emergency responders who worked to save lives that morning.
Things have been a bit hectic, so I wasn’t able to get the piece ready for the anniversary, but I’m hoping to have it out in the not-too-distant future.
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