Hotel Vendome fire remembered 40 years later

Forty years ago, just one day before Fathers’ Day on June 17, 1972, a four-alarm fire broke out in Hotel Vendome on Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street. After three hours of 16 fire engines and more than 50 firefighters taming and extinguishing the blaze, the southeast section of the seven-story building collapsed without warning onto the crews preparing to exit the building. Nine firemen were killed as a result. This June 27, 1972, photo, which shows the remains of the Hotel Vendome, was taken from a helicopter ten days after the fatal fire.
Joe Runci
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Forty years ago, just one day before Fathers’ Day on June 17, 1972, a four-alarm fire broke out in Hotel Vendome on Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street. After three hours of 16 fire engines and more than 50 firefighters taming and extinguishing the blaze, the southeast section of the seven-story building collapsed without warning onto the crews preparing to exit the building. Nine firemen were killed as a result.

This June 27, 1972, photo, which shows the remains of the Hotel Vendome, was taken from a helicopter ten days after the fatal fire.