Sunday's Belmont Street Fire Not Suspicious

By Chris Orchard

A Sunday morning fire at 18 Belmont St. is not suspicious, according to District Fire Chief Frank Lee of the Somerville Fire Department.

The fire started at ground level a little after 8 a.m. and extended up to the second floor of the three-story apartment building, according to Lee.

Although there appeared to be significant damage to the outside of the building, 95 percent of the fire was isolated to the exterior, and residents were not likely to be displaced, the district fire chief said.

"Everyone will be back in. We'll sleep here tonight," said Timothy Caldwell, one of the residents.

The fire broke out just 10 doors down from 46 Belmont St., where on July 19, about four residents were displaced by a fire that struck at about 3:30 a.m. It was one of several fires that have broken out in Somerville this summer. A number of them are considered suspicious and are under investigation by the state's fire marshal's office, the Somerville Fire Department and Somerville police.

Read more about this summer's fires in Somerville here.

Jeff Szwaya, another resident of 18 Belmont St., said, "We were woken up by a guy yelling [at us] in the street."

"It's because of him we got out," said Jessica Steckmann, another resident, who said it was the man in the street who called 911 in addition to yelling to residents to get out.

Szwaya said he felt lucky to live around the corner from a fire station—there's one at 651 Somerville Avenue, about a block and a half away—and said the fire "was out before some people got out of the building."