Fire at 53 Bow Street - Floor 4

At 211 a.m. on April 5, 2026 (Easter Sunday), Box 47 was transmitted for the fire on floor 4 of the 5-story Harvard University dormitory building at 53 Bow St, Randolph Hall.

Arriving with "smoke showing," companies established water supplies, stretched attack lines to floors 4 & 5, effected searches for occupants, and extinguished and overhauled the fire. The fire was confined to one room and contents by one operating sprinkler head.

Engines 1, 6, & 5; Ladders 1 & 3; Rescue 1; Squads 4 & 3; & Division 2 worked at the fire.
On duty: group 2

Incident Commander: DC Paul

Cambridge Police Officers, Harvard University Police Officers, and ProEMS medics and EMTs assisted on scene.

Thank you again, to the staff of Cambridge Emergency Communications for coordinating response and communications.

Photos attached are courtesy of 857 Fire Photography and Cambridge Police.

First-due companies Engine 1 & Ladder 1 working at the fire on Bow Street

Engine 1 with hose deployed on Bow Street

Ladder 3 set up with the aerial ladder deployed to the fire on floor 4 on Bow Street

A firefighter from Engine 5 stretching an attack line to the fire on floor 4

Cambridge Police on scene providing traffic diversion and pedestrian safety at the fire on Bow Street