Allston’s second fire of the week sets off Packards Corner alarms

An old stove caused a fire at 1110 Commonwealth Ave. in Allston on Monday afternoon near Packards Corner, leaving about $100,000 in damage, Boston Fire Department officials said.

About 35 firefighters responded to the fire at 1:13 p.m. and were on scene for about an hour, said BFD spokesman Steve MacDonald.

MacDonald said the old stove in the basement, not used anymore but still plugged in, must have been accidentally turned on while there were boxes on top of it.

He also said that there were no injuries, although the BFD chief Steve E. Abraira estimated a damage of $100,000 because the fire burned cables for electricity and Internet that were also in the basement.

The seven-story building has businesses on the first floor and dormitory rooms for The New England Institute of Art on the upper floors, MacDonald said.

Although the whole building suffered smoke damage, the sprinkler kept the fire confined until the BFD arrived.

This is the second fire in Allston in as many days. At 9:26 p.m. on Sunday, firefighters responded to a fire caused by a stove in a five-story apartment building at 1079 Commonwealth Ave., according to the BFD’s Twitter feed.

The fire on the third floor caused about 150 people to evacuate for 30 minutes and delayed the Green Line outbound T, the BFD said on Twitter. The fire caused no injuries, but there was an estimated $30,000 in damages and heavy smoke on the upper floors.

The Sunday fire and damage was confined to the kitchen, MacDonald said.

In both cases, the BFD ordered everyone to evacuate and not go back into the building until the smoke cleared.

MacDonald said he urges people to be attentive to their stoves, and that it is common sense not to leave the stove unattended when cooking.

“You don’t put something on the stove and go in and watch TV,” MacDonald said. “If you’re using the stove, you stay with the stove while you’re cooking.”