The BMW driver who parked beside an East Boston fire hydrant — and drew social-media scorn after firefighters smashed the windows to hook up a hose and battle an eight-alarm blaze one block away Wednesday night — was tagged with a measly $100 ticket for what officials called a “stupid” but rare mistake.
Meanwhile, an insurance expert said the car owner most likely won’t even have to go out of pocket to replace the glass or fix the water damage.
“The insurance of the vehicle would cover the breakage of the glass, regardless of the source,” said Michael P. Larrick, a claims professional with more than 40 years experience. “The insurance company could try to recover against the fire department, but the indiscretion of parking in front of a fire hydrant is going to wipe out any recovery.”
A Herald photographer posted a photo of the beamer on Trenton Street and its blown-out windows on Twitter; the fire department retweeted it — and so did 1,500 other users, with comments including “Break the law, and the law will break your car windows.”
The Lexington Street fire, which broke out just two weeks after a nine-alarm blaze in the Back Bay that killed ?Lt. Edward J. Walsh Jr. and firefighter Michael R. Kennedy, caused an estimated $750,000 in damage, left two firefighters with minor injuries and displaced about three dozen residents from three buildings. It started with an engine fire from an SUV.
Boston fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said the BMW’s driver should have known better, but that a higher fine probably wouldn’t have prevented the ill-conceived parking job.
“It’s just something you don’t do,” MacDonald said. “The money, I don’t think, is a deterrent to anyone. Sometimes people do stupid things.”
Firefighters smashed the windows to connect a 4-inch-thick feeder hose from the hydrant to an engine, MacDonald said. Running the hose over the car would have caused it to kink. Even with the hose running through the windows, a crew of firefighters and bystanders had to grab the car by the bumpers and nudge it about a foot and a half to improve the flow of water.
A neighbor said he saw the driver sitting on the curb near his battered car clutching his face in his hands. Attempts to reach the BMW owner were unsuccessful. |
