One worker is dead Friday after an electrical fire in a Cambridge office building.
Emergency crews were called to a three-alarm fire in Cambridge after reports of smoke and people being trapped in a 17-story building at 1 Broadway at about 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Dozens of firetrucks and ambulances responded to the scene, and about 100 people were treated for smoke inhalation on site. In all, 39 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment. Sixteen people were brought to Massachusetts General Hospital, including NSTAR worker Kevin Fidalgo, 28, who died from his injuries. A second NSTAR worker, Christopher Carey, was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for smoke inhalation.
"The first victim, unfortunately, was in cardiac arrest upon arrival. He did not survive," said Dr. Alasdair Conn of Massachusetts General Hospital. "(The patients) mostly have mild smoke inhalation and are being treated at this time. I anticipate that one of them may be observed overnight. We are still making that decision. The concern was that they inhaled or had burns in their upper airways. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with the patients that came to Mass General."
In a statement, NSTAR CEO Tom May said, "This is a tragedy and our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with Kevin's family. ... We appreciate this morning's rapid response by emergency officials who did their best to help Kevin. While our work continues with authorities investigating the accident, our thoughts at this time are with Kevin's family and helping them in any way we can."
Fidalgo had worked for the utility company since June 2000.
Several people were also taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Mount Auburn Medical Center for treatment. Conn said none of the patients that were brought to Mass General were treated for burns.
Officials said a transformer in the basement of the building exploded, causing the fire and smoke. NSTAR crews were doing routine work at the corner of Broadway and Main Street at the time of the incident.
"All we have been told so far is that there was a transformer that may have exploded. It sent a lot a smoke up through the building, through stairwells, and a lot of people were upstairs," said Cambridge police public information Officer Frank Pasquarello.
According to initial reports, some people were temporarily trapped in the building. About 700 to 800 people were in the building at the time of the explosion.
"Nobody knew where the stairs were. There was panic, and we finally found the stairs, and we were running and running down 12 flights of stairs. It filled with smoke, and nobody could see, and people were almost getting trampled," said Katie Doherty, who works in the building.
Because of the danger created by heavy smoke in the stairwells, officials used the building's public announcement system to tell workers to stay put.
"Once (the danger) was determined, they went to the fire control panel, which has a voice system in that particular building, and notified the occupants over that voice system that if they are not in the stairwell at that time, they should stay and seek refuge in place, as opposed to evacuating into the stairwells where there was smoke," said Cambridge Fire Department Chief Gerald Reardon.
Jim Turner, who owns a restaurant across the street, said he saw 20 to 30 people flee the building and some people breaking through windows. Other witnesses said they saw workers using office equipment to break windows to climb out onto adjacent rooftops.
"Basically the emergency stairwell was impassable, so we just went outside (through the window) to one of the officers. Somebody had busted out a window and the only way out at that point was to the parking garage on the side (through the window)," said worker David Klein.
"Our building maintenance manager said (workers were using) computer monitors -- they were using anything to break that glass and get out and jump down onto the roof. There are six broken windows that we can see on this side," said Valerie Navy-Davies of the Red Cross, which is located in a nearby building.
Pasquarello said several people had to be rescued from nearby rooftops by firefighters on ladders.
"When we were coming out, we didn't know what to do because glass was falling everywhere because people were breaking windows to breathe, I think," Doherty said.
The fire caused traffic problems in and around Cambridge with delays on the Longfellow Bridge, First, Third and Binney streets, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority temporarily suspended Red Line service between Park Street and Central Square. Ames and Wadsworth streets were also closed for a time at Memorial Drive.
No other buildings were evacuated, but some did report losing electricity.
The building, located at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street near Kendall Square in Cambridge is owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and houses a variety of different businesses. MIT purchased the 17-story building from Raytheon in 1998. It was built in 1970, but MIT has made improvements to the building since then.
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