2-alarm Back Bay blaze leaves several families displaced

BOSTON (WHDH) - Several families are without a home after a two-alarm fire broke out in the walls of an apartment building in the Back Bay on Saturday night, officials said.

Fire crews responding to a reported structure fire at 168 Beacon St. found fire in the walls between the second and third floor of the four-story apartment building, fire officials said.

All of the residents of the building escaped safely.

Investigators believe the fire, which caused extensive damage, may have been gas-fed.

A man who lives in the building told 7News he was doing laundry when he first smelled the smoke.

“I took the laundry out, took it up to put it on the bed and went in the bedroom up on the third floor and I said, ‘This smells like a fire,'” Jerry Blakeley said. “My wife, she didn’t think she smelled anything. And then, all of a sudden, we saw smoke coming. It all happened very fast.”

Deputy Fire Chief Calobrisi said the fire caused an estimated $500,000 in damage.

The cause remains under investigation.

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