Officials Investigating 'Suspicious' Liberty Street Fire

A fire that left a Liberty Street home uninhabitable Wednesday night has been deemed suspicious by officials and remains under investigation.

Lt. Kevin Nelligan of the Braintree Fire Department, the State Fire Marshall and the Braintree Police Department are investigating the cause of the three-alarm fire at 1324 Liberty St., Lt. Ed Bulger said in an email.

The blaze, which initially appeared to have begun shortly after 9 p.m. in a lower level storage room behind the home's attached garage, caused approximately $150,000 worth of damage and left one of the residents with burn injuries.

Nicholas J. Marchione was transported to South Shore Hospital with burn injuries Wednesday night, but was released and back at the home by 11:45 p.m., Bulger said. His wife Sheila K. Marchione was unharmed. No firefighters were injured in the fire.

Fire Department Chaplain Fr. Paul Clifford was on scene Wednesday night with the Marchione family, Bulger said. They declined Red Cross assistance.

Damage was heavy in the garage and in a game room behind the garage and above the storage room. Firefighters were able to back a sedan out of the garage when they arrived at the home.

The fire did not spread to the rest of the house, but smoke and heat caused damage throughout. Bulger said he could not specify what contents of the home were damaged.