BEVERLY — In the early morning hours of July 4, 1984, George Didlake was home in Topsfield when he saw the news on TV about a fire raging out of control in Beverly.
"You could see the 40-foot flames coming out of the windows," he said. "I said, 'That's where my brother lives.'"
Didlake sped to Beverly and witnessed firsthand the tragedy that, 26 years later, still looms over the city. Fifteen people, including George's brother John, died in the Elliott Chambers rooming house fire, one of the deadliest in the state's history.
Last night, Didlake returned to the corner of Elliott and Rantoul streets for the first time since that day for a ceremony to honor the victims.
Nearly 100 people gathered outside what is now a CVS/pharmacy to dedicate the Elliott Chambers Fire Memorial. The memorial, a bronze plaque on a granite stone, lists alphabetically the names and ages of the 15 victims.
"They were uncles, fathers, cousins," George Didlake said in his remarks to the crowd. "They were real people. They weren't just lost souls."
The memorial was the idea of Beverly resident Amanda Mazzaglia, who grew up nearby on Elliott Street and remembers being awoken by all the commotion that morning when she was 9 years old.
When the former rooming house was set to be torn down to make way for the CVS, Mazzaglia wrote a letter to the Beverly City Council last year suggesting a memorial. John Burke and James Maroney, who had been working on a documentary about the victims, teamed up with Mazzaglia to form the Elliott Chambers Fire Memorial Foundation.
"To the Elliott Chambers 15, you now have a permanent location to be remembered and respected," Mazzaglia said.
The ceremony included an honor guard from the Beverly Fire Department and was conducted with the department's new firetruck parked in the background. Beverly fire Capt. James Maggiacomo said the fire left "an indelible mark" on the city and the firefighters who responded.
James Carver was convicted of arson and second-degree murder for setting the fire and is serving back-to-back life sentences.
Maggiacomo said a combination of factors turned the building, which lacked sprinklers and other features now required by fire codes, into a "multistory blast furnace."
"The residents never had a chance," he said. "That fateful morning will stay with us forever."
One positive legacy of the fire was a bill requiring sprinklers in rooming houses, a law that Maggiacomo said "has saved countless lives across our commonwealth."
The ceremony also featured a song written and performed by local musician Satch Kerans, called "Elliott Chambers 15," and a rendition of "Amazing Grace" by John Archer.
As Burke and Mazzaglia read the names of each victim, a family member, friend or volunteer stepped forward to place a white rose at the base of the memorial.
Tracie Novack said she will take solace in the fact that her brother, 18-year-old George Flynn, and all of the other victims will not be forgotten. She said her brother moved to Elliott Chambers to try to establish a life of his own.
"He wanted to be his own man and do his own thing and have people be proud of him," she said. "He wasn't able to do that. I'm glad there's a place to go where my brother will be remembered."
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or pleighton@salemnews.com.
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