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6 April 2023
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Massive fire destroys beachfront homes in Scituate, US
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A massive fire has destroyed multiple beachfront homes in Scituate, a seacoast town in Plymouth County in Massachusetts, US. Video from the scene shows the massive flames first responders had to battle. Five buildings were involved in the fire and three others damaged. The flames broke out on Glades Road at about 20h00 on Friday night, 24 March 2023. Smoke and flames could be seen from miles away. Five waterfront homes in Scituate were destroyed after a multi-alarm fire spread to eight beachfront properties in Minot Beach.
Video from the scene showed flames had spread to multiple homes along Glades Road in the Minot Beach section of Scituate.
Scituate Fire Chief John Murphy estimated that the fire started sometime between 19h30 and when first responders were notified just after 19h50 Friday. The fire quickly reached five alarms. "Upon arrival, we had three homes well underway with flames," Chief Murphy said. "Everybody was evacuated."
Chief Murphy said fire fighters immediately worked to stop the spread of the flames to additional structures in the area. "We're very fortunate we didn't have a lot of wind tonight," Chief Murphy said late Friday night. "We probably lost five homes tonight but the first three are total losses and the other two have extensive damage."
"My discussions with the first-arriving firefighters is that the building where the fire originated was fully involved, and it already extended to two other buildings on our arrival, so we had a lot of challenges just protecting what we could save on either side," Scituate Deputy Fire Chief Mark Donovan said.
Chief Murphy said some of the homes were occupied. "We're not sure if some of them were just summer homes or not but everybody's been evacuated," Chief Murphy said.
Chief Murphy said Scituate fire fighters had eight different communities helping battle the flames. "We're very fortunate nobody got hurt. All the homeowners have been contacted by the Red Cross to make sure they have a place to stay if needed," Chief Murphy said.
Crews tore down the burned-out homes on Saturday.
Heavy smoke was detected by doppler radar and was spread as far south as Marshfield. Flames could be seen from a significant distance away.
Scituate police said area residents should expect potential power outages as well as water-related issues as a result of the fire in the Minot Beach area.
"There are really no words for it," Samantha Rubenstein, a resident of the neighbourhood for her entire life said. "It's really tragic to see all of these beautiful houses up in flames," Rubenstein said. "It's one thing to have the storms come in and the destruction from the storms but it's another to have something like this happen."
It is unclear how the fire started but it is not believed to be suspicious at this time. State Police fire investigators are responding to the scene to support Scituate fire fighters with the investigation.
A resident of one of the destroyed houses shared Nest home security footage with NewsCenter 5's Ted Wayman that appeared to show the early stages of the devastating fire. That Nest video has been shared with the Scituate Fire Department, which is now part of the investigation into how the fire started.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Sources: WCVB5, CBS News
Video from the scene showed flames had spread to multiple homes along Glades Road in the Minot Beach section of Scituate.
Scituate Fire Chief John Murphy estimated that the fire started sometime between 19h30 and when first responders were notified just after 19h50 Friday. The fire quickly reached five alarms. "Upon arrival, we had three homes well underway with flames," Chief Murphy said. "Everybody was evacuated."
Chief Murphy said fire fighters immediately worked to stop the spread of the flames to additional structures in the area. "We're very fortunate we didn't have a lot of wind tonight," Chief Murphy said late Friday night. "We probably lost five homes tonight but the first three are total losses and the other two have extensive damage."
"My discussions with the first-arriving firefighters is that the building where the fire originated was fully involved, and it already extended to two other buildings on our arrival, so we had a lot of challenges just protecting what we could save on either side," Scituate Deputy Fire Chief Mark Donovan said.
Chief Murphy said some of the homes were occupied. "We're not sure if some of them were just summer homes or not but everybody's been evacuated," Chief Murphy said.
Chief Murphy said Scituate fire fighters had eight different communities helping battle the flames. "We're very fortunate nobody got hurt. All the homeowners have been contacted by the Red Cross to make sure they have a place to stay if needed," Chief Murphy said.
Crews tore down the burned-out homes on Saturday.
Heavy smoke was detected by doppler radar and was spread as far south as Marshfield. Flames could be seen from a significant distance away.
Scituate police said area residents should expect potential power outages as well as water-related issues as a result of the fire in the Minot Beach area.
"There are really no words for it," Samantha Rubenstein, a resident of the neighbourhood for her entire life said. "It's really tragic to see all of these beautiful houses up in flames," Rubenstein said. "It's one thing to have the storms come in and the destruction from the storms but it's another to have something like this happen."
It is unclear how the fire started but it is not believed to be suspicious at this time. State Police fire investigators are responding to the scene to support Scituate fire fighters with the investigation.
A resident of one of the destroyed houses shared Nest home security footage with NewsCenter 5's Ted Wayman that appeared to show the early stages of the devastating fire. That Nest video has been shared with the Scituate Fire Department, which is now part of the investigation into how the fire started.
There were no reports of any injuries.
Sources: WCVB5, CBS News
