Crime & Safety

Humphrey Street Fire Knocked Down

The fire started in a planter on a porch extending from an upper floor residence behind Popo's restaurant. With temperatures hovering about 100-degrees, firefighters knocked down the fire.

Firefighters chased down a porch fire at the rear of 168 Humphrey St. this afternoon, knocking down the knee-high flames before they had a chance to spread too far.

The fire started in a plastic planter in an outer corner of the porch about 4:15 Friday afternoon, Lt. Bob Surette said.

John McKenney, who lives in the residence, was not home at the time, he said.

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No one was hurt, said Swampscott fire Capt. Remo Zimbaldi.

Surette, the department's arson investigator, was working away from the station, and on the road, when he heard the report of a fire off Humphrey Street.

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A woman directed him to the parking lot behind Popo's where he saw small flames in the corner of a porch.

The porch extends from an upper-floor residence.

Surette directed the arriving fire crews to the back of the building. They set up a ladder, hiked up with a fire hose and blasted the flames.

Melting plastic dripped below and a some pieces of wood fell to the parking lot. 

The wind was blowing on this hot day but firefighters knocked down the flames before they had a chance to spread to other parts of the building, Zimbaldi said.

Surette said there was no cigarette butt or other tell-tale item in the planter indicating how the fire started.

"There's no rhyme or reason," he said before taking some photographs at the scene.

Firefighters tore up portions of the decking searching for any fire extension.

McKenney said the damage was limited to the porch and the residents woud be staying at their home.

The Popo's building stands on the spot where a building was lost to fire a number of years ago.

Nearby, about a block away, fire destroyed the Gateway Building on Humphrey Street on March 1, displacing residents and businesses.


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