Watch CBS News

Fenway Apartment Fire Damage Estimated At $500,000

BOSTON (CBS) - Dozens of people in the Fenway were forced out of their homes for New Year's Eve because of a fire.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports

Podcast

The two-alarm fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. in a third floor apartment on Peterborough Street.

No one was hurt in the fire. It took about an hour to get under control. Damage is estimated at $500,000.

Twenty-eight of the 30 units were occupied.

Several apartments have smoke, fire or water damage.

There are roughly 20 to 30 windows to board up and two holes in the roof.

It was not the way residents were hoping to start a new year.

"We were at the movie and we came back and found the problem," said tenant Carol Motta. "But we are safe."

So far no cause of the fire has been determined, but investigators say they want to speak to the people who were doing work on the two vacant units to see if they can shed any light on what happened.

Power has been turned off to the building and nobody is allowed to stay there for now. The livable apartments in the building are expected to reopen on Thursday.

In the meantime, many tenants spent this first day of the new year removing what they can from their units.

In December 2011, four firefighters were hospitalized after an electrical fire broke out in the same building.

"Here we go again," said resident Doug Orey, who fared worse this time around, especially from the water damage. "It was basically raining inside the apartment."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.