‘DIDN’T EXPECT TO DIE’
Firefighter, father of 5 killed in blaze
Nearly three years to the day Watertown residents lost a hometown hero battling a deadly Boston blaze, the community is reeling again after a veteran firefighter collapsed and later died after responding to a two-alarm call.
Joseph A. Toscano, 54, a firefighter with the department since Sept. 26, 1996, and a married father of five children, succumbed to injuries after rushing into a single-family home on Merrifield Avenue, the city’s deputy fire chief said. Toscano was taken to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge where he died.
Watertown Deputy Chief Bob Quinn said the last firefighter death in Watertown was in the late 1950s. Toscano is the first firefighter to die in the line of duty in the Bay State since Lt. Edward J. Walsh, 43, and firefighter Michael Kennedy, 33, of the Boston Fire Department died in a raging Beacon Street blaze in the Back Bay on March 26, 2014.
Walsh, a Watertown native, is buried in a local cemetery down the road, Quinn said.
“Just a few short years ago we buried someone down the street. He didn’t expect to die that day, and Joe didn’t expect to die today,” Quinn said. “It’s just such a traumatic event.”
Town Council President Mark Sideris said it is “a sad day for the whole community. We view the town and all employees as one large family and we’ve lost a family member today. It’s a huge blow, we’re all still trying to process this.”
Flowers were laid at a fallen firefighter memorial outside the Watertown Fire Department headquarters — a shirt depicting the “Watertown Strong” slogan rested next to them.
Firefighters lowered black bunting from the roof of the station. A man driving a backhoe down Main Street stopped in front of the station, pointed at the bunting, and handed a firefighter cash before continuing down the road.
The initial call for a fire at 29 Merrifield Ave. came in at 10:16 a.m.
Kathy Jones and her husband Dave Jones — an offduty Belmont emergency dispatcher — were driving back to their home in Belmont from a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast when they saw a plume of smoke and drove to Merrifield Avenue. A woman standing outside told them another person was in the house, and Dave Jones and a Watertown police officer who arrived on scene ran in, Kathy Jones said.
Smoke was “just spilling out of the house,” she said, and they found a man overwhelmed by smoke in the bathroom. Kathy Jones ran around to the backyard to attempt to rescue two dogs — who were later saved by a neighbor — and returned to find the house engulfed in fire.
“By the time my husband had (the man) coming down the stairs, the front of the house was just in flames,” Kathy Jones said. “I was like ‘Dave, you gotta hurry up.’ ”
Quinn and Toscano were at an automobile accident on School Street when word of the fire came through, the deputy chief said. They rushed to the scene, listening to the radio, “and there wasn’t much conversation,” Quinn said.
They arrived at 10:22 a.m., and Quinn said he “struck a second alarm immediately.” Toscano — Quinn’s “eyes and ears” from inside burning structures — went in the home to assist.
“I got a call shortly thereafter that there was a firefighter down,” Quinn said. “The firefighter was inside working inside the fire area, extinguishing and overhauling, when he collapsed.”
State fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey said the initial investigation did not find anything suspicious. He added that they are looking at possible accidental causes.
Kathy Jones said she and her husband left the scene before Toscano died and found out about it later. She said her husband’s father is a retired firefighter and her family was feeling Toscano’s loss.
“It just feels awful,” Kathy Jones said. “We know what it’s like to be part of that brotherhood.”