LAWRENCE, MASS. (WHDH) - Fire officials are working to determine the source of a massive, five-alarm blaze that through multiple homes in a neighborhood in Lawrence on Easter, leaving a woman hospitalized and causing more than $1 million in damage.
Firefighters responding to a reported fire on Saratoga Street worked to put out the blaze as the wind-fueled fire spread to four homes.
“Literally, within minutes, it looked like a forest fire,” one resident recalled.
Lawrence Fire Chief Brian Moriarty said the situation could have been much worse.
“Even though we lost four buildings, it’s an extremely tight neighborhood, so we easily could’ve lost 20 buildings,” he said. “We’ve had bad fires in this neighborhood before. Our water was a little tough. Had this been at 3 in the morning, this could’ve been much different because it was such a fast-moving, multi-family dwellings. Could’ve been a lot worse.”
One woman was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries but everyone else made it out safely, officials said. The Red Cross is helping 16 people who were displaced by the fire.
Two homes on Saratoga Street and one on Bennington Street were destroyed, while two Bennington street homes and one Saratoga Street house suffered exterior damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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