A sign reading Atlantic Sea Pride Inc. lay covered with muddy footprints outside the company’s South Boston seafood facility yesterday. Inside, bent and blackened metal beams hung from the remains of a top floor. Half-burned foam containers stood stacked in a corner, while bits of charred plastic gave off an acrid odor.
Early yesterday morning, a fire ripped through the building at 400 Dorchester Ave., destroying the business located in a rented space in the rear half of the property. The small seafood restaurant, a retail store, and a wholesale store named World Seafood Processing in the front of were also damaged. After 911 calls from people who smelled smoke, firefighters arrived at the scene at about 1:15 a.m., said Stephen MacDonald, spokesman for the Boston Fire Department. The four-alarm fire raged on for nearly three hours, rolling toward the front of the building, eating away at its corrugated metal roof and walls. MacDonald said officials estimated the damage at $2 million.
One firefighter sustained a back injury and was treated and released from Tufts New England Medical Center, MacDonald said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Once it was determined no one was inside the building, MacDonald said, officials ordered the firefighters to continue fighting the fire from outside, fearing the roof would give way.
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