Braintree insurance building destroyed by fire

BRAINTREE -- Investigators are working to determine what caused a fire that tore through a Washington Street insurance office early Tuesday, leaving the building as a total loss.

Larry Mown, a Braintree firefighter and fire investigator, said dispatchers received a 911 call just after 2 a.m. Tuesday from a passerby reporting a fire at 1579 Washington St.

The single-story building houses the Frye Agency, an insurance and real estate company.

Mown said firefighters arrived on scene at 2:15 a.m., and were ordered out of the building at 2:45 a.m. due to a partial building collapse. No firefighters were injured on scene, and the building was unoccupied at the time.

Firefighters from Braintree, Weymouth, Quincy and Holbrook had the fire mostly put out by 3:30 a.m.

Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to PatriotLedger.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver.Firefighters from Boston, Weymouth, Randolph and Rockland provided station coverage while Braintree firefighters were on scene.

Braintree firefighters and investigators from the state Fire Marshal's Office are investigating the cause of the fire, but Mown said it appeared to start near an entrance on the side of the building.

Mown said the building is a complete loss.

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