Fundraisers to help 2 teachers among victims of Minot Beach fire; cause still unknown
SCITUATE − A pair of GoFundMe campaigns have been launched to support two of the families displaced in a Friday night fire in which five homes were destroyed along Minot Beach. Authorities say it's still too soon to say what caused the blaze.
Five beachfront homes were destroyed and three more were damaged in a massive fire on Glades Road. Scituate Fire Chief John Murphy said the fire could have been burning for as long as 20 minutes before first responders arrived about 8 p.m. Some of the homes were occupied, but everyone escaped and no injuries were reported.
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Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the state fire marshal, said Monday that preliminary evidence suggests the fire began at 72 Glades Road, but that investigators have not found an origin or cause yet. He said he expects it will take more than a few days for officials to sift through the scene and find out what happened.
"There are really no words for it," Samantha Rubenstein, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, told WCVB on Friday. "It's really tragic to see all of these beautiful houses up in flames. It's one thing to have the storms come in and the destruction from the storms, but it's another to have something like this happen."
In the days since the fire, two fundraisers have been set up to benefit Glades Road residents Lesley Stroud and Tyler Sabens, both of whom are teachers whose homes burned.
Stroud's boyfriend walked outside to get something from his car when he saw the flames, fundraiser organizer Laura Marinak posted. He called 911 and Stroud was able to save a few sentimental items before the home burned down.
"For anyone who knows Lesley, her apartment was her little slice of heaven − the place she had always dreamed of living, and worth the hourlong commute to her job as a kindergarten teacher," the fundraising page for Stroud, which has already raised more than $24,000, said. "She was already looking forward to the summer ahead and days spent on the beach. As you can imagine, she is devastated by this loss and overwhelmed by the task of replacing everything she once owned."
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The second fundraiser has raised more than $8,000 to benefit Sabens, the varsity boys lacrosse coach for Whitman-Hanson who rents a home along Glades Road. Organizer Jane Wojtusik wrote that since Sabens and his girlfriend were not home at the time of the fire, they were not able to take anything with them. Wojtusik, the sister of Sabens' girlfriend, said she is also a teacher at Whitman-Hanson.
"Since Friday night, they have found that nearly all of their belongings are not salvageable either from fire or water damage, or covered in soot including their clothes, furniture and electronics," the page reads. "The house on the beach they both loved so much is now gone."
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Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: How to help the Minot Beach fire victims in Scituate
