I was working my shift at the Boston Herald on a sunny afternoon when the police scanners reported a fire in an office building on Route 9 in Newton. As I approached the building I knew this was not going to be an ordinary event. Heavy smoke filled the sky near the Chestnut Hill Mall as the building, packed with workers, exploded in fire. Five people died in the blaze even as Brookline and Newton fire companies did amazing and heroic work that day. This the site of the new Wegman’s, etc. See my photos below.