JFK Library report, In the chaos following a pair of explosions at the final stretch of the Boston Marathon Monday, a wild report suddenly appeared: another, possibly related explosion had gone off around 3 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Library, located on the shore of the Boston Harbor, approximately 3.5 miles southeast of the initial explosions in Copley Square. But the "explosion" later turned out to be an unrelated mechanical fire. So how did the rumor of a third explosion spread?
A quick review of Twitter isolated the first report of an explosion at the library: a publicly available audio feed pulled from a police radio band employed by officers dispatched to downtown Boston. As personnel blanketed the area, an unnamed officer, speaking into his radio, described a "confirmed explosion" at the library's facility:
"We're going to need to deploy resources over [JFK Library] - confirmed explosion over there." - Boston PD scanner
— Seth Mnookin (@sethmnookin) April 15, 2013
Despite the off-the-cuff nature of police radios — they're used to organize and deploy personnel, not verify and promulgate news — the unconfirmed comment was quickly picked up:
Confirmed explosion at JFK Library: cmplx.it/ZlZxIH That's two uncontrolled, one controlled, JFK explosion control unconfirmed.
— Foster Kamer (@weareyourfek) April 15, 2013
Boston Police Scanner: confirmed explosion at JFK library
— Lee Stranahan (@Stranahan) April 15, 2013
Shortly thereafter, the director of the JFK Library told the Dorchester Reporter, a local newspaper, that the damage onsite "was confined to a mechanical room near the archive section of the library" and the library's Twitter feed described the damage as a "fire":
Fire in building is out, appears to have started in the mechanical room of new building. All staff and visitors are accounted for and safe.
— JFK Library (@JFKLibrary) April 15, 2013
Investigators are investigating. Any tie to Boston Marathon explosions is pure speculation. More information as we receive it.
— JFK Library (@JFKLibrary) April 15, 2013
Here's what people onscene were looking at:
Here's photo of damage from apparent explosion/fire at JFK Library, via @davewedge twitter.com/DaveWedge/stat…
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) April 15, 2013
THERE IS A FIRE AT THE JFK LIBRARY twitter.com/Pritt/status/3…
— ☕ vicky ☕ (@flirtnarry) April 15, 2013
Photo of JFK library but its unclear whether it was an explosion or just a fire! twitter.com/fr33man95/stat…
— Ben Freeman (@fr33man95) April 15, 2013
Within an hour, the Boston Police Department began spreading reports, via statements to the media, that the damage to the library was actually caused by an explosion which may or may not have been linked to the earlier explosions. One press officer for BPD told the Talking Points Memo that "There was another device, confirmed at JFK" that went off around or after 2:55 p.m.; another said the same to the New York Post, which noted that "Boston fire officials previously said that the third explosion was linked to the ones that occurred at the Marathon but later updated their information to say that the explosion was not related."
Read More:yahoo
A quick review of Twitter isolated the first report of an explosion at the library: a publicly available audio feed pulled from a police radio band employed by officers dispatched to downtown Boston. As personnel blanketed the area, an unnamed officer, speaking into his radio, described a "confirmed explosion" at the library's facility:
"We're going to need to deploy resources over [JFK Library] - confirmed explosion over there." - Boston PD scanner
— Seth Mnookin (@sethmnookin) April 15, 2013
Despite the off-the-cuff nature of police radios — they're used to organize and deploy personnel, not verify and promulgate news — the unconfirmed comment was quickly picked up:
Confirmed explosion at JFK Library: cmplx.it/ZlZxIH That's two uncontrolled, one controlled, JFK explosion control unconfirmed.
— Foster Kamer (@weareyourfek) April 15, 2013
Boston Police Scanner: confirmed explosion at JFK library
— Lee Stranahan (@Stranahan) April 15, 2013
Shortly thereafter, the director of the JFK Library told the Dorchester Reporter, a local newspaper, that the damage onsite "was confined to a mechanical room near the archive section of the library" and the library's Twitter feed described the damage as a "fire":
Fire in building is out, appears to have started in the mechanical room of new building. All staff and visitors are accounted for and safe.
— JFK Library (@JFKLibrary) April 15, 2013
Investigators are investigating. Any tie to Boston Marathon explosions is pure speculation. More information as we receive it.
— JFK Library (@JFKLibrary) April 15, 2013
Here's what people onscene were looking at:
Here's photo of damage from apparent explosion/fire at JFK Library, via @davewedge twitter.com/DaveWedge/stat…
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) April 15, 2013
THERE IS A FIRE AT THE JFK LIBRARY twitter.com/Pritt/status/3…
— ☕ vicky ☕ (@flirtnarry) April 15, 2013
Photo of JFK library but its unclear whether it was an explosion or just a fire! twitter.com/fr33man95/stat…
— Ben Freeman (@fr33man95) April 15, 2013
Within an hour, the Boston Police Department began spreading reports, via statements to the media, that the damage to the library was actually caused by an explosion which may or may not have been linked to the earlier explosions. One press officer for BPD told the Talking Points Memo that "There was another device, confirmed at JFK" that went off around or after 2:55 p.m.; another said the same to the New York Post, which noted that "Boston fire officials previously said that the third explosion was linked to the ones that occurred at the Marathon but later updated their information to say that the explosion was not related."
Read More:yahoo
