Councilor Enrique Pepin, chair of the Boston City Council Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology, convened a Dec. 1 hearing to examine a July 29 overhead‑wire ignition in Charlestown that damaged property and left parts of the neighborhood without power. Councilor Gabriela Colette Zapata, sponsor of docket 1447, said the incident exposed gaps in maintenance, emergency notification and equity where denser, older blocks bear higher overhead‑wire exposure.

“Residents deserve to know that when they walk down their block, the wires above them are safe, inspected, and capable of withstanding increasingly volatile weather patterns,” Councilor Gabriela Colette Zapata said in opening remarks.

Three Charlestown residents described repeated equipment failures and safety incidents. Amanda Zettle, president of the Charlestown Preservation Society, urged a ‘‘dig‑once’’ pilot that would coordinate planned Boston Water and Sewer work with utility undergrounding for a 0.453‑mile segment (School Street, Bartlett Street and Vine Street) and asked the council to dedicate a portion of Encore/Charlestown Community Impact mitigation funds to the effort; she cited a 2026 window for related water‑and‑sewer excavation and an estimated budget range of about $906,000 to $2,700,000 for that segment.

Resident Shannon Felton Spence recounted three recent failures — a burned overloaded wire inches from front doors, a downed telecommunications splice, and an episode she said involved a child receiving an electric shock near Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Warren Prescott Preschool — and asked the council to require utilities and the administration to publish a public, time‑bound mitigation timeline with milestones and responsible parties.

Nora Blake told the committee she returned from cancer treatment to find her block on fire and said Boston Fire arrived quickly but Eversource did not de‑energize energized lines for more than 30 minutes, which she said prolonged risk to firefighters and medically fragile residents.

City officials described how responsibilities are divided. Todd Lyming, chief engineer for the Public Improvement Commission (PIC), said PIC issues ‘‘grants of location’’ that permit a utility to occupy a public right of way but does not determine technical appropriateness of infrastructure — that assessment rests with utilities and the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU). Matt Carney, deputy chief at the Boston Office of Emergency Management, said OEM is triggered when outages or incidents create broader resident impacts (sheltering, medical needs) and that his office relies on first‑responders or 311 escalations to determine when to deploy.

Utilities described both the July 29 response and longer‑term inspection practices. Eversource representatives said the initial call on July 29 was categorized as FPS‑3 (partial road blockage), which limited dispatch priority and contributed to a later crew arrival; they said crews then upgraded local equipment “out of an abundance of caution” and have conducted training with Boston Fire Dispatch about correct classification and notification. National Grid and Verizon described regular inspection routines for the infrastructure they control and said they coordinate with city permitting and inspection staff.

No formal motions or votes were taken. Councilors asked the utilities and city departments for follow‑up: more precise cost estimates for undergrounding in Charlestown, a historical account of why downtown Boston and parts of Cambridge are largely undergrounded, and clarity on DPU’s role and communications. Eversource said it would provide written cost estimates and supporting information; the committee also noted that the DPU had been invited but did not attend or submit written testimony.

The committee adjourned after outlining those follow‑ups.

The committee plans to collect written estimates and historical documentation from utilities and city departments as next steps.