On May 22, 1964, sixty-two years ago this week, a fire that broke out on a back porch in Dorchester. The Bellflower Street fire grew so fast and burned so intensely that it created its own weather, creating a literal firestorm and leaving the fire department struggling to contain it. Columns of smoke and flame licked the sky, while every available firefighter from Boston and over two dozen suburban towns raced to the scene to make a desperate stand. When the smoke cleared, 35 buildings had burned and 300 people were homeless.

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A Firestorm in Dorchester

Note: I had to use an AI-generated photo for the header image to avoid copyright issues.
Main BFD report on the fire
Lt James Kennedy’s Division 1 report on the fire
District 6 chief John R Greene’s report on the fire
Boston Civil Defense report on civilian response to the fire
BRA report on “urban renewal” on Bellflower Street
50th anniversary Globe retrospective
Aerial and on the ground photos of the fire [pdf link]
Aerial photo of the smoke column
Photos of the fire and its aftermath from the Boston City Archives
Photos below are embedded from the Boston City Archives’ flickr account: