Here’s your chance to support Wellesley firefighter Joanie Cullinan and cancer research.
More on Joanie’s story from Boston 25 News.
Fundraiser for Wellesley firefighter: Shave your head
2-alarm Wellesley fire, no injuries
Wellesley police and firefighters responded to a 2-alarm house fire on Mayo Road in Wellesley on Friday. No injuries were reported.
WHDH reported a man, woman and child were in the house at the time of the fire, which burned a hole in the roof.
From the Wellesley firefighters: “Yesterday we responded to 44 Mayo Rd for a second alarm house fire. In addition to Wellesley, Newton, Natick, Weston, and Needham responded to the fire while Waltham and Watertown covered our stations. Thank you to all out of town companies for the support. Additionally, we would like to thank Boston sparks a10, Cataldo and Wellesley PD for support on scene.”
Wellesley Police and Fire are on scene of a 2nd alarm house fire on Mayo Road. No injuries. Road is closed. pic.twitter.com/X3vTvbmmif
— Wellesley Police (@WellesleyPolice) September 27, 2019
Wellesley remembers the September 11th attacks of 18 years ago
The Wellesley Hills Fire Department Headquarters on Route 9 was for the 18th year the location of the town’s annual remembrance ceremony to observe the events of September 11, 2001 and honor the 2,977 civilians and first responders who died in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. About 70 Wellesley residents, first responders, and other town employees gathered to once again hear the somber toll of the bell and hear the names of town residents who died in the terrorist attacks. The gathering ended on an appropriately solemn note, as all bowed their heads to the mournful wail of Taps, played by bugler Kim Shaw, a Library Associate at Wellesley College and a member of the US Coast Guard Reserves.
Rabbi Moshe Bleich from Wellesley Weston Chabad provided the benediction and said, “That fateful day will always be in our hearts…give strength and comfort to the survivors so that they may find purpose in their lives.” He led the crowd in prayer for “a world of justice, compassion, and peace.”
Board of Selectmen members Lise Olney, Beth Sullivan Woods, Tom Ulfelder, and Chair Marjorie Freiman were in attendance. Freiman remarked, “What we do today is to come together and pay our greatest respects to, and honor those, who were taken from us or injured by this senseless act of terror.”
Wellesley residents who lost their lives in the attacks were named: Neilie Casey; Edmund Glaser; Patrick Quigley; and John Cahill.
9/11 memorial observance in Wellesley
Fire devastates downtown Natick
Wellesley firefighters were among first responders from more than a dozen neighboring communities that headed to downtown Natick overnight to battle an 8-alarm fire that left a firefighter injured and wrecked a handful of businesses, according to news crews on the scene.
I’ve been in Natick Center all morning taking pictures and videos, and talking with business owners and residents. about the fire that has destroyed at least eight businesses. Among the ruined storefronts are King Wok Chinese restaurant, which has been a fixture on that block since at least 1997. The basement of that restaurant apparently is where the fire began. One firefighter has been taken to the hospital with reported minor injuries.
That block, which dates from 1900, also has seen the loss of the much-loved Iron Horse, a yarn and fiber arts supply shop that also offered classes and workshops. Owner Deborah Lynne Smith in a Facebook post said, “This morning at 1:22 Natick Fire was notified of smoke coming out of the front side of the building (Rt 27) our store was in (the side) building. By 4:26 the fire went to 7 alarm. Our life dream has been destroyed. Thankfully none of our wonderful staff or customers were in there!”
The Christian Science Reading Room is also ruined, its plate-glass windows smashed in by firefighters, all its literature a total loss.
Nancy Kelley Dance Studio also suffered heavy damages, as has Clip and Dip Dog Grooming. Natick Center Graphics, located on the same side of the complex as King Wok, also is wrecked. At least four other businesses are seriously affected. Just across the street, Common Kitchen & Cafe was closed, as it always is on Mondays, and unscathed. Crowds gathered at the edge of the Natick Commons to watch as smoke, at times acrid and black, poured out of the flat-roofed, one-story building affected by the disaster.
The owner of the 9,479 square foot building on 0.29 acres of land is One South Main St. LLC in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to the Natick Assessor’s records, the company bought the property in August 2018 for $2 million.
One spot that escaped damage: Robjets d’ Art, which earlier this month moved from its spot adjacent to King Wok to nearby Natick Center location at 5 S. Main Street. Luckiest move ever for the funky shop that carries a collection of cool vintage jewelry, books, music, curios and art.
Some of the towns who sent emergency crews: Wellesley, Hudson, Leicester, Wayland, Sudbury, Acton, Marlborough, Southborough, Milford, Sherborn and Hopkinton. The Salvation Army was on hand, as were Eversource, Boston Sparks Association support services, Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Special Operations, and more.
Cosmos Chiropractic Care at 12 West Central Street for 24 years, owned by Doc Cosmos, also lucked out. The 12 West Central Street building did not suffer damage. Cosmos, the self-described “mayor of Natick and proud townie,” said, “I’m from Natick, grew up here, and this is kind of a lot. But we are townies here, and we stick together. I’m glad business owners and customers weren’t hurt. This is bad, but the town will rally and come together.”
Another shot from the second floor of the Morse Institute.
The flames seem to be relentless and are still shooting up, from a strip of businesses along South Main in #Natick. We’re told AT LEAST 8 businesses are being impacted by this fire, that started overnight inside King Wok chinese restaurant. I’m live on @wbz, with the latest. pic.twitter.com/3NrhLGDkOV
— MichelleReneeFisher (@Michelle_WBZ) July 22, 2019
A little Natick fire history
This isn’t the first time Natick center has been ravaged by fire. Back on January 13, 1874 the town hub saw an inferno reduce 35 buildings to rubble, in which a Natick firefighter was killed. The town’s newspaper, The Natick Bulletin, lost its headquarters to the fire, as did the Congregational Church, a concert hall, the fire station, a grocers, a dry goods store, clothing stores, and more.
Despite the loss of its offices in 1874, The Natick Bulletin continued to publish. Under a sub-headline “Natick Will Rise Again” the town’s news source reported, “The business portion of our beautiful town lies in ashes. The fire demon has laid its withering hand upon the home of nearly our whole mercantile, religious, and professional interests, and it is vanished from sight. It is almost too terrible to realize. But though we have suffered fearfully…there is no despondency. The enterprise of our people will overcome the difficulties of the present situation…The burnt district will be rebuilt.”
In a 2009 Boston Globe story that looked back at the fire, Megan McKee wrote that fire “got its start at about 3am, when it was discovered on the second floor of a building at Summer and Main Streets.”
McKee’s story goes on to say that wind helped the fire jump across Summer Street to J.P. Wolcott’s one-year old, three-story shoe factory and into the rest of the commercial district.
The Morse Institute Library at 14 East Central Street, from where I wrote this post, survived the 1874 fire, and now the 2019 fire, despite its close proximity to both. The library, which opened on January 1, 1874, just under two weeks before the devastating fire, escaped with only a slightly damaged roof. Today it never even ceased service, despite the nearby scene of destruction.
Thanks to Natick librarian Karol Bartlett for supplying me with historical documents and pictures from the 1874 fire.
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Wellesley 9/11 monument & flag: Here’s the story
Every time we smugly think we’ve seen everything Wellesley has to show, we come across something we’ve somehow never noticed before.
Take, for example, this 9/11 monument and flag next to The Local parking lot off of Washington and Forest Streets.
The plaque, attached to a stone and sitting beneath an American flag on a pole, looks ancient. But obviously it isn’t given that it honors Wellesley firefighters and police officers, and “the bravery of their New York City brethren at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.”
After asking around town, we received information from Marcia Alevizos (by way of Town Hall). Her family purchased the Wellesley Corner/Washington St./Forest St. block of stores and buildings in May 2001.
“During the 2001 late summer, we did a massive remodel/repair to the retail block as well as designed the grass area with the trees, flagpoles and plaque to commemorate all who passed away as well as assisted in the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy,” Alevizos writes.
Some 75 to 100 people attended a ceremony and dedication held in 2004 to thank those who served on 9/11/01, and to remember those who died.
MORE: Wellesley’s memorial monuments and markers
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Wellesley fire chief earns regional leadership award
Wellesley Fire Chief Rick DeLorie has received the Theodore Mann Regional Leadership Award from the MAPC, a planning agency serving 101 cities and towns in Greater Boston.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council gives the award in memory of Newton’s longest-serving mayor, Theodore “Teddy” Mann, and recognizes a municipal leader whose commitment to regional collaboration best exemplifies Mann’s legacy.
DeLorie serves as Chair of MetroFire, an association of 34 Boston-area fire departments that coordinates mutual aid response. Efforts include enabling integrated radio communications to training for fire and medical response to dealing with major emergencies.
MAPC has a longstanding partnership with the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts (FCAM), helping members purchase fire trucks and equipment. DeLorie was among the FCAM leaders that helped establish the purchasing program.
DeLorie is the first fire official to win the Mann Award.
MORE: Wellesley Fire Department earns state grants