The origin and cause of a five-alarm blaze that destroyed five beachfront homes and damaged three others in Scituate on Friday night remains under investigation, officials said Monday.
The fire before in the Minot Beach area displaced six to 10 people and drew in overall help from 12 communities, Scituate Deputy Fire Chief Mark Donovan said during a press conference Monday afternoon, according to a video broadcast by WBZ-TV. No one was injured in the fire, which started shortly before 8 p.m. Friday.
Preliminary evidence shows that the flames started at 72 Glades Road and spread, but a determination to the “exact origin or cause”' has not yet been made, Jake Wark, a spokesman for the state Department of Fire Services, wrote in an e-mail Monday.
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The investigation is being jointly conducted by the Scituate Fire Department, Scituate police, and State Police assigned to the state fire marshal’s office, Wark wrote.
Donovan said during the press conference that “that area is very populated in the summer, but in the winter months, there’s not that many people around, and that’s probably what allowed the fire to grow.”
Most of the residents in the area had their power returned by early Saturday morning, and only the affected structures have been without power, he said.
Crews worked into Saturday putting out hot spots and cleaning up, the Globe reported.
Breanne Kovatch can be reached at breanne.kovatch@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @breannekovatch.