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State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey, Lynn Fire Chief Stephen Archer, and Lynn Police Chief Michael Mageary said the cause of the June 25, fire at 39 Congress St in Lynn is accidental due to illegal fireworks.
Investigators determined that the fire started as a result of individuals setting off fireworks and one ricocheting to the second-floor porch igniting nearby combustibles. The fire extended up and out to the rest of the second and third floors.
Chief Archer said, “Six families have been displaced and we are very lucky nobody was seriously injured. It is incidents like this which underscore why the possession and use of all fireworks by private citizens is illegal in Massachusetts.”
In the past ten years (2008-2017), 784 major fire and explosion incidents involving illegal fireworks have been reported resulting in 10 civilian injuries, 4 fire service injuries, and an estimated property dollar loss of 1.9 million. This is quite a substantial amount since most fireworks-related fires are outside brush fires and do not usually have high loss figures, but can tax firefighters and tie up firefighting resources for an extensive amount of time.
State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey added, “With the Fourth of July holiday approaching, we want to remind the public to leave the fireworks to the professionals”.
The fire was jointly investigated by members of the Lynn Fire and Police Departments and State Police assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
