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March 13, 2008

Fire at construction site at Women & Infants Hospital

PROVIDENCE -- Flames ignited by a welder’s torch caused some damage this afternoon at the site of a building addition that is under construction at Women & Infants Hospital, a Fire Department official said.

It is unclear if the building itself was damaged, and engineers are expected to examine the structure, said Deputy Assistant Fire Chief J. Curtis Varone.

A cascade of sparks created by a welder working on the second story of the five-story building at Dudley and Gay streets fell into combustible materials inside a plastic form around a steel girder and caused a fire that destroyed the 15-foot-long, 18-inch-diameter form and spread to plastic sheeting, Varone reported.

“There was heavy smoke inside the building,” and firefighters searched the interior to make sure that there were no victims, Varone said. Seventy-five to 100 construction workers had left the building before firefighters arrived.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Firefighters approached the fire more gingerly than usual, Varone said, by limiting the searchers and their search area and by clearing a safety zone around the fire’s point of origin.

There was a concern that because the structure had not yet been fireproofed, the flames might have caused a weakening and that there could be a collapse, he said.

The form, which wrapped an 8-inch-square steel girder, was designed to hold a concrete pour.

The fire was reported at 1:08 p.m., and firefighters spent one hour and 10 minutes at the location.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:23 PM | Permalink

March 13, 2008

Fire at construction site at Women & Infants Hospital

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