General Alarm Fire Destroys 20 Under-Construction Apartments at Norwood Gardens-September 19, 1972

A destructive general alarm fire early this morning swept through the Norwood Gardens apartment complex off Hampden Drive near the Walpole town line, destroying 20 apartments under construction and causing upwards of $100,000 in damage.

Intense Flames Collapse Roofs and Draw Major Mutual Aid

The fire was reported shortly after 7:00 a.m. by a carpenter who arrived early at the job site. When Norwood firefighters arrived, two of the wood-frame and brick buildings were already fully engulfed in flames, and crews arrived just in time to watch the roofs collapse on two of the units.

Because the apartment buildings were nearing completion but not yet occupied, no injuries were reported. However, the blaze’s intensity was extreme:

• Intense Heat: The radiant heat was so powerful that it blistered and charred the paint on the side of a Norwood fire engine parked 50 feet away and cracked one of its side windows.
• Mutual Aid Response: Norwood firefighters were assisted by mutual aid companies from Canton, Sharon, Westwood, Walpole, and Dedham, bringing more than a dozen pieces of equipment to the scene. Firefighters worked feverishly on the roofs of connecting structures to halt the spread, bringing the fire under control by 9:00 a.m., though engines remained on site through the morning.
• Weather Conditions: Onlookers at the scene noted that early morning rain and dense fog played a helpful role in slowing the spread of the flames.

Job Foreman Suspects Arson

Job foreman Willard Wilbur of Norwood stated his belief that the fire was deliberately set. He pointed out that because the two-story buildings were unfinished, there were no live electrical wires running through the units, and temperatures would have needed to exceed 700 degrees to ignite the insulation, suggesting someone may have set fire to a pile of structural materials.

Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office have been called in to determine the official cause of the blaze.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger