At the most dangerous point during what became an eight-alarm fire in East Boston Wednesday night, Boston firefighters scrambling to get water to their colleagues ran into a barrier: Someone had parked a BMW coupe in front of the hydrant near the blaze.
So they punched out the windows, ran a 4-inch hose from the hydrant through the driver’s side window, through the passenger’s side window, and out to an engine waiting to pump water to firefighters directly engaged in quelling a powerful fire threatening the neighborhood.
“The general reaction is that some people find humor in it,’’ said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald. “But it’s really a serious situation. That water supply is the lifeblood of the engine company. The engine carries 750 gallons – and that could be gone in just two minutes. With that number of alarms, every hydrant is important.’’
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