BOSTON — It happened late Saturday afternoon and that likely made all the difference in the case of a spectacular fire in Dorchester that displaced 29 people but killed no one.
One of the occupants was Elizabeth Gilchrist.
“Besides a few clothes, everything else is gone,” she said through tears on Sunday, the morning after the fire. “I was awakened to my neighbors telling me to get out because there was a fire. That my house was on fire.”
Gilchrist, who was napping at the time, escaped with her three adult children and her pets.
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The fire actually started in the triple-decker next door to Gilchrist’s house -- apparently in the rear. Video taken by the Boston Fire Department shows smoke growing in thickness in the area of the house’s three decks -- and then bursting into flames.
The houses on Ellington Street are no more than four or five feet from each other. So it didn’t take long for the original fire to leap in Gilchrist’s direction and then to a house on the other side, too.
“Everybody’s devastated,” Gilchrist said. “It’s hard. The neighbors have small children, at least my kids are older. They have babies.”
Both triple-deckers are pretty much destroyed. The third structure appears repairable.
Gilchrist, who’s lived in the house for about seven years, is staying at a friend’s house. Beyond that, she doesn’t know what she’ll do.
“Try to start over,” she said. “Figure it out.”
A GoFundMe has been started to assist the victims of Saturday’s fire.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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