Dive-centre staff went from door to door alerting upstairs residents after fire broke out at East Coast Divers in the US town of Brookline at around 10am on 28 May. The 60 firefighters called to the scene encountered heavy smoke and flames when they entered the building.
Explosions reported by witnesses were caused by multiple compressed-gas cylinders that became involved in the fire at the long-established centre. Investigators later said they believed that the fire had started at the back of the dive-shop before spreading to reach the dive-tanks.
The shop was on the ground floor of a three-storey apartment building in Brookline, which is near Boston, Massachusetts. The staff-members who went upstairs found that only two of the nine residents had been indoors, and they were evacuated along with a pet cat.
Injuries were reportedly limited to minor burns to the arm of one dive-shop employee and cuts to a firefighter’s hand, but all occupants of the building had to be checked for smoke inhalation before being temporarily relocated.
Community spirit
East Coast Divers has operated since the 1970s and is described as one of the Boston area’s best-known dive-centres. Other New England dive-shops as well as local university diving programmes are said to have rallied round after the fire to offer assistance.
With no retail storefront the premises are temporarily closed, though all other services are said to remain available to customers.
“We’re still teaching classes, servicing equipment, running trips and supporting our dive-community while we rebuild,” said Nick Fazah, co-owner and managing partner of the centre with Alex Dulavitz. “East Coast Divers has never just been a building – it’s a community, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Fazah estimated business losses at more than $400,000 (£297,000) in equipment alone and said that the fire had occurred just before the dive-centre’s busiest part of the year, when much of its annual revenue is generated.
One loyal customer was however quick to start an online fundraiser, which has already raised more than $71,700 of the target $80,000 (£59,500) from more than 350 donors.
The ignition source remains under investigation by Brookline fire investigators and the Massachusetts State Fire Marshal’s Office.
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