'Lit up like a Christmas tree,' 20 people forced out of homes after fire destroys Chelsea duplex
CHELSEA - Twenty people were forced out of their homes in Chelsea after a duplex was destroyed in a fire early Tuesday morning.
Fire Chief Leonard Albanese, Jr. said it started in the back of the three-story home on Blossom Street and quickly spread up the rear porches. Cell phone video showed huge flames coming out of the back of the house just after 1 a.m. Everyone inside escaped safely.
"We heard a boom, we heard an explosion," neighbor Joan Cromwell told WBZ-TV. "It was crazy, the whole park, it looked like it was high noon. Just lit up like a Christmas tree."
It took about an hour to bring under control, but firefighters faced several challenges. They had water problems from the start because of a bad hydrant and the hot weather made conditions tough.
"Weather is definitely a factor. It's humid out, you can't go as long as you want to in weather like this," Deputy Fire Chief Michael Masucci told reporters.
One firefighter was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital but is expected to be okay.
Another challenge was keeping the flames from spreading to the home next door. A Chelsea Police officer banged on the door until he woke up the woman sleeping there.
"He wouldn't give up. He was relentless, he kept banging," Cromwell said. "He was ready to kick in the door and she opened the door."
That woman's son says he's thankful to the first responders for making sure his mom was okay.
"I'm super grateful that they were here and helped her," he told WBZ.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but the home is a total loss.
Residents were then allowed to go in afterwards and collect what they could, but now they will all have to find somewhere else to live.
"There's lots of children there, there's families. Just to think of the amount of people that were displaced is just horrible," Cromwell said.
