Investigators were still trying yesterday to determine what sparked a three-alarm fire that displaced five Beverly families and caused at least $400,000 in damage to a Cabot Street apartment building.
"We have some theories, but we don't want to discuss them right yet," Deputy Chief Paul Cotter said of the Wednesday fire that he said sat "cooking" in an attic space until two off-duty police officers spotted smoke and rushed in.
"The top floor, all the ceilings are down . . . heavy charring in all the ceilings . . . about three-fourths of the way back, and everything is soaked."
The fire broke out about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, but residents had no idea until the police officers began kicking in doors and yelling for everyone to get out. Fire officials said the building's fire alarms did not go off until firefighters broke through the attic ceiling and smoke started to filter to the floors below.
Brandi Bogrett, 22, watched yesterday from a
"We're waiting to see if they'll let us in," Bogrett said.
John Mancini, the building's owner, watched as well. He said he purchased the building, along with two others nearby, in June for about $1.4 million.
"I really don't know what I'm going to do yet. I really haven't gotten any reports from the Fire Department as to the extent of the damage," he said early yesterday. "I'm very grateful that nobody got hurt."
City electrician Bill Ambrefe found "minor" wiring changes throughout the third floor, though his office had no wiring permits on record.
"I saw . . . wiring that was of questionable quality . . . it certainly wasn't anything that would pass inspection," Ambrefe said. "You could just tell that some tinkering had been going on, but you could tell it hadn't all been done yesterday, just over the years."
City Building Commissioner Steven Frederickson said he found no recent permits for the building. His office is supposed to inspect multifamily housing units every five years, but he did not see any record of that having been done.
"It might not have gotten onto our list," Frederickson said, adding that he was looking into the matter. "There are hundreds of multifamily units in Beverly, so it's possible that it got overlooked."
