'They Did Awesome'

'They Did Awesome'
Neighbors laud firefighters, weigh options after huge fire
Katie Landeck
News Staff Writer

News staff photo by KATIE LANDECK
The charred remains of two Sherman Street buildings destroyed in Monday’s six-alarm fire could be seen Tuesday in Gardner.

 

  GARDNER  As investigators probed the debris of Tuesday’s six-alarm blaze that destroyed two empty neighboring buildings, residents of 102 Sher­man St. watched from their porch and tried to decide what to do next.

“We don’t have electricity,” said tenant Christopher Part­ridge, who is staying at a local hotel. “My window was open and you can see soot on my ceiling in the kitchen.”

There’s also water damage from when firefighters sprayed down the multifamily apartment building to keep the blaze from spreading further. It could be a month before the building is back in shape and electricity is restored, but the tenants are grateful for the work the firefighters did.

“I thanked every single firefighter,” Mr. Partridge remarked. “They saved my dog and gave him oxygen.”

“They did awesome,” resident Julie Fitzpatrick agreed.

Next door, the buildings were still smoldering Wednesday as firefighters watched for flare-ups. Investigators were on the scene and an excavator picked through the debris, layer by layer, to find the source of the fire.

However, Reynaldo Pitre, 22, of Gardner, has allegedly admitted to Gardner police that he started the fire to make his girlfriend feel bad. He was arraigned on two charges of burning a building in Gardner District Court on Wednesday. He is being held without bail until his dangerousness hearing on May 15.

Once the fire investigation is complete, the remains of the Rome Furniture warehouse and an abandoned multifamily apartment building owned by the city will be cleared away.

Still a spectacle, a steady stream of people ignored the caution tape to come and take pictures of the scene, keeping firefighters busy shepherding people away for their own safety.

During the fire, hundreds of people came to watch the buildings burn, some standing around while others were driving by. As a result, many police officers were tied up steering traffic away from Sherman Street when National Grid cut off the power due to safety concerns.

When the power went out, so did the traffic lights near the fire and downtown, making the already-heavy traffic even more difficult to navigate.

“People are supposed to yield to each other in these situations, just like in the downtown,” said Deputy Chief John Bernard. “They need to work with each other.”

Police officers were dispatched to the intersections of Main and Chestnut streets and Main and Willow streets to help guide motorists.