Massive fire destroys Newton home; Firefighters had hard time getting water
NEWTON - A huge fire destroyed a home in Newton Friday night.
It took firefighters more than three hours to put out the four-alarm fire on Gray Cliff Road. Neighbors called 911 at about 10:30 p.m. to report that the house was fully engulfed in flames.
"That's the most fire I've seen in one place at one time in my career," Deputy Fire Chief Eric Fricke said.
The residents were not home at the time, and no one was hurt. The house is located on top of a hill, and Fricke said the small water main made dousing the flames "a real problem for us."
"We had a hard time getting enough water to conduct an effective firefighting operation with the volume of fire that was facing us," he said.
Neighbor Linda Rinearson, who witnessed the fire, said the house was built in the 1890s.
The family, who was away on Cape Cod, was too upset to speak to WBZ-TV on camera, but said they had lived in the house since 1999.
"It's just a beautiful home in a lovely neighborhood," she said. "When we looked out, the flames were above these huge trees, just everywhere. It was scary."
Neighbor Peter Domenichella called 9-1-1 and took a cellphone video of the fire.
"The entire first floor, at about 10:30 p.m., was completely ablaze," Domenichella said. "A few minutes later, it just kind of worked its way up the house, and it eventually collapsed at about 11:15 p.m."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
