REVERE, Mass. — A tough battle for rescue crews in Revere. A fire broke out Tuesday afternoon in a high-rise building along the city’s waterfront.
“Having something that intense happen right next door is pretty incredible,” said Sam Walker, who lives in the building next to the high rise that caught fire.
Walker could not believe what he saw when he looked out his window.
“I realized oh my God, next door’s on fire, you know it’s not often you walk to the window, and okay, that’s the movies right there in my life,” said Walker.
Walker captured video from his apartment on Ocean Avenue after part of the high-rise next door went up in flames. Lots of people watched the thick, black smoke from Revere Beach across the street.
Within just a few minutes, firefighters arrived to put it out.
“It was great to see firefighters coming in, doing their job – more importantly it was just very cool – there were two guys that showed up, no backup, and they went right at it. They broke through the window, started spraying things down with what they had,” said Walker.
The Revere fire chief says two residents were trapped in their apartment when the fire broke out on a deck on the 11th floor, but they were able to rescue those residents and keep the fire contained to the deck.
“A lot of things went our way – we’re very fortunate the time of day, the direction the wind was blowing and we have a fire watch currently in this building that helped a lot also,” said Chief Chris Bright.
Chief Bright says a firefighter was already at the building to keep an eye on it since the fire alarm wasn’t working, so he was able to call crews in right away.
“I feel for the firefighters in these conditions, where they have to hike up 8-10 stories with all the weight on their backs and all the equipment they bring with them,” said David Nylin, a witness nearby.
Now dozens of residents are displaced for water and smoke damage while fire crews are trying to figure out how this started.
“It’s a wood floor deck up there, and there’s been a lot of reports of people smoking cigarettes, so the investigation has just begun,” said Chief Bright.
Massachusetts State Police say four of their state troopers also responded and ran into the building to evacuate a few of the floors.
Two of the troopers went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but otherwise everyone will be okay.
Drone video captured by Boston 25 photographer Ken Lucas showed fire crews getting the fire under control.
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Fior Espinal, who owns a dog walking company called Wiggle Walks LLC, was out with some dogs along the waterfront earlier in the afternoon and captured video showing black smoke coming from the building.
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