Newton Marks 21 Years Since Tragic 200 Boylston Street Fire

NEWTON, MA — Twenty-one years ago Tuesday, a fire broke out in a Route 9 business complex, killing five people and a dog — becoming one of the deadliest fires in Newton's history.

"I put this right up there with the Starck incident [the 1993 chemical plant fire on Needham Street in which 11 firefighters were injured] because of the magnitude and loss of life and injury and the number of communities involved: Brookline, Watertown and other communities helped us get it under control," Newton Fire Chief Gino Lucchetti said in a phone interview. "This ranks really high of all-time big fires in modern times."

The fire tore through an office building at 200 Boylston St. in Chestnut Hill around noon Feb. 9, 2000. It took 20 minutes before anyone called 911, in part because the owner of the building was in the middle of having smoke detectors and alarms installed, and those did not yet work, according to a lawsuit that was filed afterward. The five-alarm fire prompted calls for backup from several fire departments. Dozens of people made it out in time, but five did not.

Gerald Kaplan, 61, of Newton was given CPR on the ladder on his way out of the building but died later at the hospital. Kaplan owned an accounting business in the building.

Also dying in the fire were Virginia Lewis, 76, and her son Robert, 50, both of Newton; Lynne Brady, 54, of Tewksbury; and David Stulin, 52, of Sharon. The building was so destroyed that their bodies were not found until days later.

Lucchetti said he remembers sifting through the debris for the missing people in the days after the fire, and the loneliness of the few cars left in the parking lot from the day before.

"I remember the devastation," he said. "Searching for the missing, going through rubble, sifting through rubble and thinking about the guys that were there earlier in the day. It was a long week."

The families of those who died in the fire settled a wrongful death lawsuit in 2006 for an undisclosed amount.

Sidney Kriensky, who owned the building, was found negligent in a civil trial brought by tenants regarding several fire code violations.

By 2008, the complex was under agreement to be sold. At the time, it was estimated as worth more than $10 million.

Today, the building is part of a bustling upscale complex that houses a Wegmans supermarket, Soul Cycle, and a Brigham and Women's care center — a passerby would not see a trace of the buildings destroyed or lives lost in the fire.

Upon closer inspection, there are two memorials nearby in the form of a small garden across from the entrance to the Equinox gym and a small park behind the complex, accessible from Florence Street.

The fire came just two months after five firefighters died in the Cold Storage warehouse fire in Worcester. Unlike the Worcester fire, the cause of the fire was not determined. The state fire marshal's report suggested charges might be warranted. The office recommended to the state's district attorney that the case be investigated further and told NECN it requested that a grand jury look into the case. But the attorney general at the time, Martha Coakley, did not agree and said there was no evidence to support criminal charges.

Kriensky died in 2014 at age 74.

State Rep. Ruth Balser was in her first term at the time of the fire. She was at the Statehouse when someone told her to turn on the television to watch the news unfolding.

"It was a very powerful experience for me, as it was for everyone in the community," she said in a phone interview Tuesday.

In the days that followed, she saw news reports that there were complications with state laws and requirements.

The building, composed largely of cinderblocks, with interior wood partitions, was built in the 1950s, before Massachusetts law required sprinkler systems.

She contacted the state fire marshal to ask if that was true.

"There had never been an instance of a fatality from fire in a building with an automatic sprinkler system," she said. This formed the backbone of legislation she began pushing for.

She filed a bill that closed loopholes in the state's requirements for automatic sprinkler systems, and that bill was signed into law in 2008. It's one of her prouder victories, she said.

But that Newton fire has always stayed with her. She's working to extend that 2008 legislation to residential buildings and give municipalities the option to install automatic sprinklers in new construction in single- and two-family homes.

"As a legislator we always feel we honor the memories of people lost in tragedy by trying to prevent future tragedy," she said.

Related: A Somber Anniversary: 11 Years After 200 Boylston

Do you have memories of the tragic day on Feb. 9, 2000? Thoughts to share on what has or has not happened since the fire? Patch wants to hear from you. Leave your thoughts in the comments below or e-mail jenna.fisher@patch.com