Fire at Worcester high-rise displaces hundreds on Thanksgiving Day

An electrical room fire in a Worcester high-rise apartment building displaced hundreds of residents on Thanksgiving morning.

The Worcester Fire Department responded to Plumley Village at 16 Laurel St. around 3:42 a.m. and quickly extinguished the fire, The Boston Globe reported. 

Resident Lillian Clarke told Boston 25 that she woke up to banging on her door. 

“At first I ignored it, but then, like, they kept banging and then I jumped up and I ran to the door,” she said. “Once I ran to the door, I started smelling all the smoke so I went, I … grabbed the kids and we started just running down the stairs.”

Plumley Village is a Section 8 housing development that is privately owned and operated by The Community Builders, Inc., a nonprofit. The high-rise consists of 120 apartments with 300 to 400 residents, according to the Globe. 

Worcester City Manager Eric Batista said in a statement that the building’s electrical system suffered enough damage that all residents were relocated until repairs can be made and the apartments deemed livable, the newspaper reported.

“Please keep the families displaced by the Laurel St fire in your thoughts as you gather on this Thanksgiving day,” Batista wrote on Twitter.

“We ask for their privacy during this difficult time and in the days ahead,” he added.

The Salvation Army of Massachusetts said its Emergency Disaster Services team out of Fitchburg provided lunch and dinner to 300 residents.

The building remained evacuated on Friday, the city confirmed in a press release. However, Community Builders quickly made accommodations for all displaced residents, including temporary lodging and transportation. 

The property manager is working closely with electrical contractors to make necessary repairs to the electrical system, according to the release.

“The timeframe for those repairs to be completed is still unknown but the City of Worcester’s Department of Inspectional Services is working with building management and the contractors to expedite a temporary repair that would allow residents back into the building as soon as it [is] safe to do so,” the city said. 

Some power has been restored to the building, and the heat and elevators are operational. 

The fire’s cause remains unknown and will be determined by the insurance company, according to the release.

Despite the rocky start to the holiday season, resident Jesus Matos had an optimistic outlook.

“We have life,” Matos told CBS Boston. “The other things, you can recover.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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