Fire Damages Home

An unoccupied home on Edgartown Bay Road was damaged by fire early Thursday morning; the origin of the fire was under investigation and still unknown at press time yesterday. Edgartown fire chief Peter Shemeth said volunteer firefighters were called to the scene at 93 Bay Road after a smoke alarm call came in at about 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. Mr. Shemeth said the fire was confined to the back of the house, which had been having some renovation work done on it. “It started on the exterior but a window finally gave way because of the intense heat on the exterior and that is what activated the smoke detectors,” Chief Shemeth said. He said the damage was largely confined to two back rooms and a roof area over the rooms, with some smoke and water damage in the rest of the house.

Three pumper trucks, a ladder truck and a rescue vehicle, all from Edgartown, responded to the scene. An additional pumper truck from Oak Bluffs came to the scene to assist and a West Tisbury fire truck stood by at the Edgartown station in the event of another call.

“We were well covered,” Mr. Shemeth said.