FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - Investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are going through the scene of a Fitchburg condo building that was burned in a massive fire Sunday night, while one of the residents still remains missing following the blaze.
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, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. 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.
Early added that one person was reported missing.
Crews continued to battle hot spots throughout the night. On Monday, demolition crews worked to tear down part of the structure with a backhoe.
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