FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - Investigators going through the scene of a Fitchburg condo building that was burned in a massive fire Sunday night said one resident who was previously reported missing, has been found dead.
The man, whose name has not been released, was found underneath a pile of rubble on the third floor with two improvised explosives known as IED’s nearby, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr.
When asked if the fire was intentionally ignited, Eary said, “That is where the investigation is taking us.”
DA: can’t say yet if the man who died in his Fitchburg apartment blew himself up. But are we investigators looking for other suspects? “No.”
— Jonathan Hall (@JHall7news) September 23, 2019
Crews responding to the area of Beekman and Salem streets just before 6 p.m. found heavy flames and smoke coming from the building, a former school that had been converted into two dozen condos, along with evidence that there were multiple explosions, Early announced.
Witnesses say they heard a loud bang while standing outside near the building before being hit by shattered glass.
“Glass fell on my head and it fell on his and I started bleeding,” one woman said.
Firefighters rescued one woman through a window as resident Jillian Gould recorded the scene.
“We saw in the third-floor window a lady push out an air conditioner and she was gonna jump out and the fire department was telling her, ‘Don’t jump.’ They were getting the ladder and stuff and then they had her climb out and there was smoke pouring out of there,” she recalled.
Some people who live inside tried to save their pets.
“I told him to run up and check on the cats and there was a wall of smoke,” one resident said.
Two people suffered undisclosed injuries and between 50 and 60 people were displaced, according to the Fitchburg fire chief.
Crews continued to battle hot spots throughout the night. On Monday, demolition crews worked to tear down part of the structure with a backhoe.
Early believes the incident is isolated.
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