Fire on the eighth-floor of a Newton high-rise

Newton Fire Chief Bruce Proia. (WCVB, YouTube)

NEWTON, Mass. (WCVB) – Around 800 people have been displaced from their homes for the next 24 to 48 hours following a fire at a high-rise apartment building in Newton. Newton firefighters said a kitchen fire was contained to a single eighth-floor unit on The Towers of Chestnut Hill, but water from sprinklers flooded into units on the seventh floor.

“Water leaked down into the electrical control room, into the electrical switch gear that controls both the north and the south towers,” said Newton Fire Chief Bruce Proia.

All 425 units from each tower had to be evacuated and firefighters climbed each of the 12 floors to bring residents down safely. MORE