It’s not a Cambridge specific thing. That’s to tell fire fighters the structure is unoccupied, gutted and currently unsafe to enter.

Condemned.

Not necessarily gutted, but at least has something like big holes in the floor that a firefighter might fall through while searching for occupants in the smoke.

Lmao why are you getting downvoted

Do you mean the bendy pole? It's pining for the fjords.

Divers

It does not mean condemned.

Defined by the International Fire Code section 311.5. The X means serious structural or interior hazards exist, no interior firefighting to be undertaken.

Thank you! The more you know

Condemned for the whole building or just that window? Front door doest look boarded shut or anything idk

It means structurally deficient and unsafe for first responders to enter if you want to be specific about it.

Some will have one strip or none. Each mean a different level of hazard. But mainly it’s abandoned but not necessarily needing to be leveled. Let’s just say it needs some work before some lives or uses the space.

Buried treasure

House Inman is calling the banners. The bastard son of House Porter seeks to usurp the lordship.

You aren't wrong, that is what it means...but the state of Massachusetts doesn't use the IFC, they use the Mass Building Code. I think this might be in 527 CMR section 10.

I haven't pulled out my code books in a while. It's semantics, but I've seen some code enforcement folks try to use the International Fire Code, those violations got thrown out because "Massachusetts hasn't adopted that code".

To arms! To arms!

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When you see this kind of X on any building, it means that it is slated for demolition. Sometimes, it can take a couple years for the actual demo to happen. But anyway, that's what it means.

I’ve seen ones with just a single slash, not an X. Do they mean similar things?

How would you condemn a single window?

You only need to board up the front doorway if the door is missing/non-functional.

That’s completely incorrect. Luckily others know the right answer.

On a somewhat similar note, does anyone know what the purpose is of a flashing GREEN light? Like, what?

I must say I’ve never seen it anywhere else, but seems like a wise thing.

Like at an intersection? I was thinking about this yesterday too. I am pretty sure it means like "hey this is an intersection and the other roads have a flashing red, please be alert but don't slow down unless necessary".

Whereas yellow flashing means "slow down and make sure it's safe before entering intersection, there might be cross-traffic" and red is "treat this like a stop sign"

Yep, it's 527 CMR 10.12.5

Right on. I have never seen them outside of MA. I thought it was the equivalent of DON'T FUCKING STOP.

Thank you for the localized info!!

It’s basically the same except less bad. Interior hazards, use caution.

It's basically a caution sign. Firefighters can enter, but use caution.

An X is more severe. Firefighters should only enter if absolutely necessary, like to save a person inside. Otherwise firefighting occurs from the outside only.

“keep it movin, jerk”

Green flashing is for a pedestrian controlled intersection. It is special to indicate pedestrians are likely to cross the area, and the signal will change suddenly from a pedestrian hitting the signal to cross alewife Pkwy and Salem has examples.

Thanks! I've seen both!