Lynn Apartment Fire May Have Been Sparked By Unattended Cooking
LYNN (CBS) -- The cause of a massive fire in Lynn that forced 28 people out of their homes is still undetermined.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that it was sparked by unattended cooking in an apartment on the third floor.
The 18-unit building on Broad Street was gutted out by the blaze on Monday afternoon but remained standing Tuesday morning.
Lynn Fire Chief James McDonald had expressed fear that the building would collapse overnight.
Officials said the building is a total loss and expect it will be torn down Tuesday.
McDonald kept firefighters at the scene all night to watch for hot spots.
At one point, almost 100 firefighters were fighting the blaze, which took three hours to contain.
Flames and thick black smoke spilling out of the roof of the three-story structure were caught on camera by SkyEye.
"It was a really, really tough fire to fight, a lot of fire in all the void spaces and it just ran throughout the building," said District Chief Stephen Archer.
One woman was transported from the scene with serious injuries after she was rescued by firefighters from her apartment where the fire started. Officials said the woman was badly burned.
There was no update on her condition early Tuesday.
Other residents returned to the building to see if anything was salvageable. One man hugged the firefighter who found his car keys in his apartment.