PHOTOS: While two triple-decker house fires left dozens displaced and two people dead, houses of this design do not make up the majority of the state’s residential fires, the State Fire Marshal’s office told MassLive.
Triple-decker homes were originally built for factory workers and have been a common form of housing for over a century, GBH reported in 2022. Such homes make up the main source of affordable housing in Massachusetts cities that were previously major centers of industry, such as Worcester, Brockton and New Bedford. Part of what makes triple-decker homes a general risk during a fire is a balloon-frame construction that allows fires to spread very rapidly, unimpeded, from the basement to the attic and throughout void spaces, according to Jake Wark, public information officer for the Department of Fire Services.