Residents Safe After Two-Alarm Fire

All three residents are safe and sound after a two-alarm fire at 54 Boylston St. Monday afternoon, the confirmed.

All of the inhabitants were away from the building when it sparked into flames just after noon Monday.

Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Walsh said that the cause of the fire had yet to be determined, and was under investigation by both the city and state police fire marshalls.

Walsh said their efforts to put out the flames were complicated by an apparently “severe case of hoarding” evident inside of the home.

“We had a problem gaining entry into the building” as a result, Walsh said. “There was an inordinate amount of debris in our way...three or four feet tall, of all kinds of collectibles and junk.”

As a result, crews had to take “alternate routes” to safely enter the home.

Efforts to investigate the fire's cause may also be complicated by the amount of material inside the home, he added,.