SANDWICH, MASS. (WHDH) - Fire officials are investigating a blaze that raced through an uninhabited home in Sandwich early Saturday morning.
Firefighters responding to a reported structure fire on Bourne Avenue around 2:30 a.m. found flames shooting out of the home. A neighbor said she was alerted to the fire by her dog and called it in.
“Our dog Murphy started barking incessantly. I got out and looked out the window, didn’t see our motion detector light go on, so I knew nobody was in our yard. So I walked back toward my bedroom. He wouldn’t stop barking, then we both got up and we noticed the fire,” Jean Gilrein said.
Firefighters said neighbors told them they saw the flames start in the back yard and spread to the house, and Sandwich Fire Chief John Burke said there was a lot of material in the back yard as well, including carports filled with debris. Crews were told not to go inside because the house was known to be full of hoarding materials and no one had lived there in years.
“You couldn’t even get in the house, it’s floor-to-ceiling debris on all two floors, including the basement, so we didn’t even make an attempt,” Burke said.
Burke said the woman who owns the house lives elsewhere with family, and that neighbors have complained about material surrounding the home.
“We preplanned the building for many years with a strategy of what we would do if anything happened here, and the on-duty crews that were here did an excellent job following the protocols,” Burke said.
No one was hurt in the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)