LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - An afternoon full of fire that residents in the Centralville section of Lowell won’t soon forget.
“It was a windy day, so the fire spread really fast,” Silas Htwe, evacuated from the fire.
“It was something crazy that day for sure,” Jordan Brierley, evacuated from the fire.
Tuesday afternoon, firefighters say flames broke out at a large home on Bridge Street, soon spreading to five more around it.
“We were like really scared because especially here you can see the tree, and we thought it could have come up on us, and we’re just happy we’re still alive, and God gave us another day to live,” Htwe said.
Nobody was seriously hurt, but now 44 people are without a place to stay.
“It was definitely something that was hard to see and to witness, people being displaced,” Brierley said.
The city of Lowell is coming up with a list of resources for those 30 adults and 14 children. They’re offering food and toiletries from the Salvation Army, emergency clothing, food, and essential items from Project Kompass, and emergency housing support from Community Teamwork Inc.
A spokesperson for the agency told 7NEWS that they’ve placed six families in hotels and are working to find them permanent housing. Case managers are also working to order necessary supplies like bedding and clothing.
Neighbors who’ve lived here for decades say the burned homes on their street now feel like holes in the community.
“Everybody feels terrible, even if we didn’t know them, those are people with children, people with families, that now have lost absolutely everything, which is devastating,” Brierley said.
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