Boston Globe photo 

INVESTIGATION INTO THE RESTAURANT FIRE that killed two Boston firefighters has disclosed that the fire was caused by leaking cooking grease from the exhaust duct.  The area of the exhaust pipe where it began was not readily visible and never checked by the duct cleaning company that serviced it in June.  The receipt from the duct-cleaning company indicates that they only cleaned readily visible areas of the exhaust system.

The fire department announced that grease from the duct oozed into a crawl space above the ceiling where it burned for at least an hour before it was detected.

The operator of another large exhaust cleaning firm is quoted by the Boston Globe:
“This is, for the most part, a one-or-two-men-and-a-dog-and-a-truck kind of business,” said Steven Schlesinger, co-owner of Tri State Fire Protection and Tri State Hood & Duct, which cleans restaurants in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, including large chains such as Burger King. “There are people with a boom box and a pressure washer who go out there and say they’re hood-cleaning specialists. But it’s not as simple as that.”

Boston Globe photo

In Massachusetts, there are no training, certification, or licensing requirements for grease-cleaning companies. State fire codes give authority over instituting such requirements to local fire departments. In Boston, no such requirements exist.  The Globe reported last week that city health inspectors had not visited the restaurant for more than a year, even though state regulations require the city to inspect restaurants twice a year.

Read the entire Boston Globe story HERE.

Firegeezer adds:  Notice in the story that there were two dropped ceilings beneath the crawl space.  When you go in there with your pike and pull the ceiling, make sure that there isn’t another one above it.  Never assume anything.

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