Cambridge fire guts buildings, displaces 60 families

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — An estimated 60 families have been displaced from a large fire that ripped through a densely-populated neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday.

Neal Alpert, the chief of staff for Cambridge, Massachusetts Mayor E. Denise Simmons, said 60 is the "latest estimate" as of Sunday morning. The office is still waiting to learn the details of how many individuals that figure includes.

Fire crews remain on the scene of where the 10-alarm blaze jumped from one building to another, destroying at least eight structures. The cause is under investigation.

“I lived there for 30 years. My wife has lived there for 60 years her whole life,” Joe Buswell, who lived in the house next to where the fire started, said.

Alpert says the Red Cross is working with affected families to assess their immediate needs while local officials are determining their longer-term needs. Simmons is urging people to contribute online to the Mayor's Fire Relief Fund she created to help the families.

Busewll's wife Emily ran a daycare businesses on the first floor of their building, but will need to find a new location now that it has been torn down.

“All my children that I have right now, they'll be displaced. And it's, you know, we're family. And that's the hardest part. That these children are all going to be separated now,” she said.

SkyFox was over the scene Saturday evening as the fire burned and again Sunday morning to capture the devastating aftermath of the flames. You can see a before and after in the following two images.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group