As thick black smoke billowed out of 7 Capen Street, the Cioffi family and friends huddled on a corner about a block away. Tufts students and Medford residents stood at the intersection of Capen and Winthrop to watch firefighters combat the four-alarm fire, as hoses sprayed onto onlookers. Some looked on in shock, others in amazement.
"I grew up there," a teary-eyed Paul Cioffi said, watching flames lap at his childhood home. "On the third floor." Although Paul has moved out of the 7 Capen Street house, his five siblings and parents still live there. Their grandparents live on the second floor.
Over 20 fire engines from eight departments filled the streets, separating spectators from the blaze. It was, however, still relatively easy to navigate through the maze of fire engines and hoses, and many onlookers and reporters were able to get close to where the fire was being fought.
Helicopters from local news stations flew overhead as newscasters and camera crews scrambled to get information. The fire was the top story for most evening local news broadcasts, and many television reporters gave live updates throughout the afternoon.
Freshman Chris Roughton saw the fire as he walked to the 3 p.m. Good Friday mass at the church across the street. "I saw that the house on Capen Street was on fire first, really flaming. And then it spread to the other one on Winthrop," he said. Many students saw smoke from the blaze across campus and the Boston Globe reported that it was visible from ten miles away.
Gail Landry, a resident of 46 Winthrop Street, said she heard a loud explosion from her kitchen and looked outside. "You always see it on TV, but you never expect it to happen to you," she said. Landry's two cats were left inside, but at least one was rescued by a firefighter over an hour after the blaze started. When firefighters notified Dean of Students Bruce Reitman that they had saved a cat, he personally sought out Landry to return it to her.
Tufts students who lived at 50 Winthrop Street also heard the explosion. Senior Jay Kahn came outside to find his yard in flames. One resident of the house fought "15-foot flames" on their garage with a police officer, according to his housemate, senior Jeremy Rich.
"The fire department didn't even know about it," he said. "I'm not sure how this is going to work out with my landlord," Rich said of the damage.
Tufts University Police Department desk officer Michael Santini also helped fight the fire. Santini was reportedly walking past 7 Capen Street as he saw it burst into flames. He went into the house and helped two elderly people leave safely.
Several Tufts administrators and staff joined the crowd to watch the firefighters. Among them were Reitman and University President Larry Bacow, who consoled student residents of 3 Capen Street.
Adele Bacow also looked on. "I really feel for anyone who lives here," she said. "I personally have three friends who have lost their homes by fire. Their houses were gone in less than two minutes."
The fire was particularly hard to fight because it involved gasoline, said Medford Fire Deputy Edward O'Brien. As the firefighters' efforts continued into the second hour, water became scarce, forcing them to search for hydrants farther away from the site. Bystanders pitched in and carried hoses to hydrants in order to get the water to the engines. The location of the fire also complicated the effort to fight it. "That was a pretty tight little area in there. But that was the nature of the game in the city," O'Brien said
Jonathan Graham contributed to this article.
