Almost 60-years-ago Boston’s Ladder 26 had a similar crash on the same hill
Boston’s Ladder 26 speeding down a steep Mission Hill Street without brakes and no way to stop. This wasn’t a description of the scene Friday where Lt. Kevin M. Kelley lost his life. The date was April 22, 1950 and the outcome was a lot less tragic, but the potential for disaster was great.
The Boston Globe’s Erica Noon takes a look back almost 60-years and tells the story of a previous crash of Ladder 26 on Parker Hill Avenue. In the 1950 incident no firefighters were hurt as the rig jackknifed and slammed into the front porch of a two-family home. According to the article the driver aimed for the house rather than cross Huntington Avenue, 50 yards from where the brakes failed.
Minutes before Ladder 26 hit the home a baby was sleeping on that very same porch. Click here to read the entire article.
