Flames tore through a mixed-use residential building at 1135 Broadway in Somerville's Teele Square just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, sending heavy smoke over the neighborhood as firefighters battled what quickly grew into a five-alarm blaze. Resident Warren Thanes said he spotted the fire on his way home and could only wait as crews worked to save what they could, including his 13-year-old grey tabby cat.
According to WCVB, Thanes lives in the building and watched flames spread as firefighters worked the scene. “I was sitting waiting for someone to go in there and get my cat,” he told the station. Firefighters did locate the cat and pulled it out safely, and Thanes and his partner were headed somewhere safe as crews continued putting out the blaze, the station reported. WCVB NewsCenter 5 said it would provide further updates as the situation develops.
Why a Five-Alarm Call Brings in the Whole Region
A fire escalated to five alarms in Somerville automatically triggers the Metrofire mutual aid network, a standardized running-card system that dispatches pre-designated engine and ladder companies from surrounding Greater Boston communities such as Cambridge, Medford, Boston, and Chelsea, according to the Metrofire mutual aid system. The network coordinates emergency dispatch across Greater Boston, bringing in regional apparatus and extra hands beyond Somerville's own department. Somerville's own department is also part of the response.
A Rough Stretch for Somerville Fire Crews
Wednesday's blaze comes just six days after Somerville firefighters battled a three-alarm fire at a vacant home on Park Street, where a roof collapse forced an evacuation and three firefighters were injured, two of them seriously, according to The Somerville Medford News Weekly.
Multi-alarm fires have tested Somerville's infrastructure before. A four-alarm residential fire on Wheatland Street in July 2025 displaced 27 residents and required mutual aid from Chelsea, Boston, Malden, Cambridge, and Medford, with crews rotating frequently as they worked through a heat index near 100 degrees and a broken water main, per the Boston Sparks Association. In December 2025, an Eversource electrical worker operating a bucket truck on Marion Street rescued a woman trapped on a second-story awning during a house fire before firefighters arrived, an act Somerville Fire Chief Charles Breen publicly commended, as reported by Boston 25 News.
Teele Square's History With Major Fires
This is not the first time Teele Square's commercial corridor has been hit hard by fire. A late-night three-alarm blaze in October 2011 destroyed four local businesses along the Broadway and Clarendon Street corridor as well as a Somerville Police Department substation, with that fire originating in a local dry cleaner before spreading rapidly, according to The Somerville Times.
The square has also seen recent commercial growth. Liars opened at 1153 Broadway in the former True Bistro space, expanding the active dining strip that runs through the neighborhood.
