In Plymouth, Martini's building fire Friday causes $150,000 in damage
Updated Oct 16, 2016 at 8:17 AM
Residents in two apartments are homeless, and a restaurant and bar has had to close temporarily for repairs due to a fire that started in a garbage can behind a downtown business Friday afternoon. By Emily Clark
eclark@wickedlocal.com
PLYMOUTH, MASS. – Residents in two apartments are homeless, and a restaurant and bar has had to close temporarily for repairs due to a fire that started in a garbage can behind a downtown business Friday afternoon.
A cigarette or cigarettes tossed in a garbage can may be the cause of the fire that spread up the rear wall of 50 Court St. and traveled into the roof, according to Fire Chief Ed Bradley.
Engines 1, 2 and 7 responded from these corresponding stations to a call at 1:52 p.m. of a fire in the building, which is the location of the Martini’s restaurant and bar as well as two second floor apartments.
Firefighters arrived to find two restaurant employees using a hose to extinguish a fire in a trash barrel behind the building, a fire that had spread from the barrel to the vinyl siding of the building, up the exterior wall and into the roof, Bradley added.
Firefighters attacked the fire from the outside and roof with the help of the tower truck, and from the inside of the building as well, pulling ceilings down and ripping walls apart to put out the blaze hidden beneath. Axes were employed on the roof and inside the building to gain access to the inner wall and ceiling casings to ensure the fire was extinguished.
“That’s an older building that’s been remodeled a few times,” Bradley explained. “There are different layers of siding and roofing and walls. Eventually the sprinkler system was activated."
Firefighters cleared the scene at 4 p.m.
Bradley estimated the damage to the building hovers in the $150,000 range, but noted that didn’t include the contents of the structure. He noted that there was significant damage to the restaurant as well as to the two apartments above and the attic. Electricity and gas to the building had to be shut off.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Bradley offered a theory.
“It is an area where the staff comes outside to smoke a cigarette,” Bradley said. “We found plenty of cigarette butts. It’s probably how it caught fire.”
According to assessors’ records, the building dates to 1800 and is owned by 48-50 Court Street Trust with Erik Christensen listed as the trustee.