Delivery Driver Praised For Alerting Charlestown Residents To Massive Fire
CHARLESTOWN (CBS) – Firefighters have not yet determined the cause of a massive 6-alarm fire that displaced dozens of Charlestown residents on Thursday afternoon.
As of Friday afternoon, fire investigators have not yet been able to get inside the residential building on Bunker Hill Ave. where the fire began.
Related: Good Samaritan Helps Residents Escape Massive Charlestown Fire
Several buildings in the area were damaged as flames quickly spread.
Boston Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said Friday that a wall inside the building is expected to collapse, so it is not yet safe to go inside.
"Right now the fire is officially undetermined," Finn said. "Hopefully we'll be able to get investigators in once we've been able to render the building safe to conduct a safe investigation."
In total, 32 people were displaced by the fire. Five firefighters were treated and released while knocking down the flames.
Amazon delivery driver Jennifer Martin is being praised for her actions when the fire began.
When Martin saw the fire, she stopped her van to rush up to the building and alert residents to danger.
She first saw two elderly residents near the building.
"I got out of the truck to ask them if they knew the building was on fire and they had no idea," Martin told WBZ-TV's David Robichaud. "The fire was crazy. I've never seen a fire like that move so quick."
Finn commended Martin for her actions, but Martin said she was just doing what any other person would have done.
"I'm really not a hero. That's just a natural instinct that kicks in for everybody I think," she said.
Shelley Burns lives in one of the buildings that was impacted by the fire.
"I look at it now and it's like everything is gone. I'm going to have to go back to the beginning," said Burns, who added that her building suffered water damage and had walls ripped open by firefighters.
"It's just stuff. I have to keep reminding myself. We'll get through this."