5 homes destroyed, 3 damaged in massive fire at Minot Beach in Scituate
SCITUATE - Five homes were destroyed in a massive fire at Minot Beach in Scituate Friday night. The flames broke out on Glades Road at about 8 p.m.
Smoke and flames could be seen from miles away.
"Like nothing I've ever seen in my life," said neighbor Mike Corcoran. "Flames four stories high. What was concerning was the embers flying off the fire coming up the street landing on other properties' roofs."
"I looked out my sliders and saw the beach glowing orange," said Delia Weikert.
By Saturday, eight homes had been damaged in the fire. Five of them are total losses. The other three homes need to be assessed.
"Today I have an ocean view," said neighbor Felicia Young. "Yesterday there were homes and people having experiences and living in their homes and now they're all gone."
Most of these homes are rental properties, and the residents are staying at area hotels.
"We were very, very lucky that it happened this time of year rather than the summer when every single room would have been filled," said Weikert.
"We're very fortunate nobody got hurt, all of the homeowners have been contacted by Red Cross to make sure they have a place to stay if needed," Scituate Fire Chief John Murphy said. "Everybody at this time is safe. We contained the fire to five homes."
Firefighters from 12 other South Shore communities responded to assist. Wind was a major cause of the spread of the fire.
"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.
Residents struggled with power outages and water issues Saturday as a result of the fire.
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 firefighters with the investigation.
