Copper thieves' torch sparked fire at Quincy's old City Hall
Building recently target of copper thieves
An overnight fire that tore through the old Quincy City Hall building started while someone was trying to steal copper piping, fire officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
A torch ignited combustibles inside the historical building. The fire was spotted by a taxi driver at about 1 a.m. who called 911. The blaze grew to three alarms.
"We had an alarm come in at 12:59 a.m. When fire companies arrived, they had heavy fire showing in the building," said Quincy Fire Chief Joseph Barron.
Fire officials said it appears the fire started at one of the rear corners of the structure.
"It's disappointing to see the way, the shape that the building's in, but it could've been a heck of a lot worse. Quick action by first-arriving companies really limited the damage," Barron said.
"There is some concern about some of the granite blocks that face the cemetery portion, which is part of the original 1844 building, and we'll have some experts looking at that, on how to treat that. Everything else is replacing wood and timbers and wallboard and insulation," Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch said.
The building is undergoing a $9 million renovation and rehabilitation project.
"Structurally it's preserved. Some of the interior supports are gone, some of the flooring to the second floor. But they were restoring the building to its original condition, so the second floor was completely wide-open. It's not in too bad of shape. The roof of the building is intact, it wasn't affected. So all things considered, the fire companies did an outstanding job," Barron said.
Koch said part of the renovation of the building was to bring it up to code.
"I mean we were violating every code that we enforce. There was no fire suppression, the building had asbestos, wiring was old. So, that was a fear we always had in the old building that if we had some kind of a fire, we would've lost everything. At that time, all the records for the City were in that building," Koch said.
Damage from the fire will set the renovation project's schedule back several months. The cost of the damage will be covered by the contractor's insurance.
City officials will be meeting about increasing the security at the site.
No injuries were reported.