Boston Marks 50th Anniversary of Hotel Vendome Fire That Killed Nine Firefighters

BOSTON — July 20, 2026 — Boston commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Hotel Vendome fire, the deadliest day in the city's fire department history. The July 20 ceremony at the Commonwealth Avenue memorial honored the nine firefighters killed when the building's southeast corner collapsed during overhaul operations on June 17, 1972 — Lieutenant Thomas J. Carroll, Lieutenant John E. Hanbury, and Firefighters Thomas W. Beckwith, Joseph F. Boucher, Charles E. Dolan, John E. Jamison, Richard B. McGee, Paul J. Murphy, and Joseph P. Sanik — leaving eight widows and 25 children without fathers. Mayor Michelle Wu, in emotional remarks that included a disclosure of her own family's loss to fire last year, told the crowd "I know personally just what your family members gave up so that someone else would not have to experience this." The ceremony also marked the simultaneous departure of two long-serving figures: Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey, who is leaving the role imminently, and Chief Chaplain Father Daniel J. Mahoney, who officially retired at 6 p.m. Sunday after 58 years of service and was named Chief Chaplain Emeritus, with Father John Rooney of St. Cecilia's Church succeeding him. Newly elected Boston Firefighters Local 718 President Sam Dillon, sworn in the night before, addressed the ceremony as his first official act.