NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Every fire truck in Newton and firetrucks from more from a half dozen surrounding cities rallied to combat an out-of-control inferno but were ultimately unable to save a three-story house from total devastation.
Firefighters arrived at the scene at approximately 10:30 p.m. to find the residence almost completely engulfed in flames.
The owners of the house were away on vacation at the time and the roaring blaze was not noticed by neighbors until it had already spread to all three floors of the 5,000-square-foot house.
“We live right across the street from it, and we saw it and came out, we notified the fire department, and it was pretty well established by the time we saw it,” said Jeff Brewer.
According to Newton Deputy Fire Chief Eric Fricke, the battle was made more complicated due to the terrain.
“This is a tough street, we’re on top of a hill, there’s not a lot of hydrant coverage up here, so the crews had to work extra hard to get to the house to combat that kind of fire,” said Fricke.
According to Fricke, part of the house collapsed just 20 minutes into the firefighters fight. Eventually, fire crews had to concede the battle after the detached garage was the only building left standing.
“It was tough right from the get-go,” said Fricke. “The fire had a big head start on us.”
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