EAST BRIDGEWATER — Chief Timothy Harhen would like to provide an update on the Town’s response and recovery effort in the wake of this week’s Nor’easter.
Warming/Charging Center Open Today
A warming/charging center will be open today at the Community Center, located at 355 Plymouth St. until 6 p.m.
Those without power who would like to charge their devices or have a place to warm up are welcomed to visit.
Power Restoration Continues
As of 10 a.m. Friday, approximately 39 percent of National Grid customers (about 2,230 households) in East Bridgewater are without power.
Significant progress has been made in restoring electricity to residents, as about 94 percent of the town was without power on Wednesday morning.
Chief Harhen reports that National Grid is anticipating to have much of the remaining outages restored by the end of the day today, while some residents may not have power restored until sometime this weekend.
Road Closures
The following roads remained closed in town:
- Walnut Street at Union Street
- Harvard Street
- Crescent Street
Crews are actively working to remove obstructions and repair downed power lines and utility poles.
Fire Department Response
Since Wednesday morning, the East Bridgewater Fire Department has responded to over 100 calls for service, including two chimney fires within the span of an hour on Thursday.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday, East Bridgewater Fire responded to 121 South St. for a report of a chimney fire.
Upon arrival, the fire had spread from the chimney to part of the home.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames and prevented the fire from spreading further into the home.
The house sustained moderate fire, smoke and water damage to the living room area and smoke damage throughout. The family will be displaced as a result of the damage.
Mutual aid from the Bridgewater and Whitman fire departments was provided on-scene, while the West Bridgewater Fire Department provided station coverage.
While they were responding to the South Street fire, EBFD received a call for another chimney fire at a home at 33 East St. at approximately 4:30 p.m.
That fire was able to be quickly extinguished and was confined to the chimney.
There were no injuries reported in either incident.
Chief Harhen recommends for residents to have routine inspections of their chimneys to prevent chimney fires.
“This was one of the worst storms I’ve seen in 30 years as far as the amount of power outages and downed trees and power lines there were,” Chief Harhen said. “I want to commend everyone involved in the response and restoration effort here in town. And I also want to acknowledge our firefighters and mutual aid partners who assisted in extinguishing the two chimney fires in a very short period of time yesterday.”
Safety Tips
Chief Harhen would like to provide the following safety tips for residents:
- Please check on your elderly and home-bound neighbors and see if they need help with anything
- Do not approach or touch downed wires
- Residents using generators should use extreme caution and allow for proper ventilation. Never use a generator indoors or inside a garage. Keep generators away from HVAC air intakes. For more generator safety tips, visit Redcross.org
- Use caution with candles and keep them at least three feet from any walls or flammable items
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