12 people, including children, displaced after Norwood three-decker fire

NORWOOD — On a cold night, scorching flames shot into the sky and engulfed a triplane in Norwood where six children and six adults called home.

Firefighters say by the time they arrived on Melville Avenue, fortunately everyone was out of their homes, but the concern was to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby homes. Video from SkyEye showed flames and thick smoke coming from the top floor of the building.

The house that burned was Irene Ingemi’s childhood home before it was converted into multi-family housing. “I feel sorry for them because it looks like it’s probably pretty destroyed,” Ingemi said. “This was my neighborhood, it’s strange.”

Difficult conditions for firefighters

Assistance arrived from Needham, Canton, Walpole, Foxboro and Westwood to contain the fire in challenging conditions with significant damage.

“There was three full floors and then a half floor on the 4th floor, which made it very difficult for us to get up there because the fire extended into that space,” said Norwood Fire Chief Timothy Bailey.

The Red Cross was on site working with displaced families.

Displaced families waited with mixed emotions, grateful that they were coming out okay, but also discouraged that they had no home so close to the holidays.

Firefighters remained on scene Monday evening to battle the hotspots. “Very unfortunate, very unfortunate, just glad no one was home to need rescuing,” Bailey said.

Fire investigators do not know how the fire started. The fire is still under investigation.