Crime & Safety

Two Vehicles Totaled, Building Damaged in 3-Alarm Blaze

The three-alarm blaze in Newton Highlands brought Needham Street traffic to a standstill.

A three-alarm fire at 244 Needham St. Tuesday afternoon left two vehicles charred to their frames and the facade of a commercial shopping center damaged.

No one was injured in the blaze.

Newton Fire Lt. Eric Fricke said the first report of the fire came in at 2:09 p.m., Crews arrived to find high-tension power lines draped across two vehicles parked in front of Splash Kitchen and Bath and both vehicles ablaze.

Before crews could begin attempting to extinguish the flames engulfing the Toyota Prius and Honda Odyssey, however, Nstar had to cut the power to the downed high-tension lines. Fricke said a police escort was requested to bring Nstar to the scene since Needham Street was "gridlocked end-to-end."

While fire crews waited for the power to be terminated, Fricke said the gas tank of the Odyssey "let go" and a river of flaming gasoline made its way through the parking lot.

Additionally, the heat from the fire melted a mirror and damaged the paint of a third car, but remarkably the interior of Splash remained largely unscathed. 

"Nstar responded just in time," Fricke said. "Just about the time they cut the power, the window had blown, so the fire was starting to lap inside the window and up into the ceiling. They got there just in time."

In all, Fricke said, the building appeared to sustain surprisingly little damage. Some minor interior smoke damage where the window shattered and fire damage where the electrical line penetrates the roof seemed to be the worst of it. The full report will be released later, Fricke said.

Fricke said it is unknown at this time what caused the high-tension wires to come down, but a nearby witness said he knew quickly that the fire was electrical in nature.

John Ibsen was eating at New England Soup Factory when he heard "popping" sounds and the lights began to flicker. 

"[New England Soup Factory] started to slowly lose power in their building, lights flickered then nothing but the fire alarm blaring," Ibsen told Patch via email. "We all stepped outside to see the smoke rising."

Fricke said customers at Splash were able to safely exit the building on the opposite side from the car fires and no one was in danger.

Needham and Boston Fire provided assistance at the scene, while various other local departments provided mutual aid at the stations throughout Newton. 


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