Four-alarm fire overnight at South Shore Sports Center. What we know
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Massachusetts fire rips through South Shore Sports Center: ‘A loss for the community’
A massive four-alarm fire has caused damage to the South Shore Sports Center in Hingham. Officials describe the 56,400 square-foot building as beyond repair. The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze. The center was founded over 25 years ago to “provide our community with a place to play, learn, and celebrate our love of sports.” The fire department “performed heroically in fighting a large fire under challenging conditions,” Hingham Select Board member Bill Ramsey said.
The Hingham Fire Department responded to the 56,400 square-foot building on Recreation Park Drive, near Route 3, Thursday night around 11, after receiving a fire alarm system activation.
Firefighters “encountered a heavy volume of fire throughout,” upon arrival, battling the harsh flames into the early morning hours. Officials ordered a fourth-alarm at about 3:30 a.m., as multiple surrounding towns provided mutual aid.
Officials stayed at the scene to contain smoldering hot spots hours after firefighters extinguished the blaze.
“The building is probably a total loss,” Hingham Deputy Fire Chief David Levenson told reporters at the scene Friday morning. He anticipates the complex having to be demolished.
The fire’s impact beyond the heavily damaged structure is extensive.
“It’s been around for 25 years or more,” Levenson said of the Sports Center. “Soccer, basketball, baseball – everything went on here. It’s going to be a loss for the community if they’re unable to rebuild.”
Accessing enough water to fully extinguish the blaze proved a challenge, Levenson highlighted.
“The amount of water we were requiring was more than the main could supply,” he said. “We notified the water company. They did what they could to pump up the pressure. You can only give so much.”
In a social media post on Friday, Hingham Select Board member Bill Ramsey stated the fire department “performed heroically in fighting a large fire under challenging conditions.”
“I am thankful there were no reported injuries or loss of life,” he added.
The complex was founded over 25 years ago to “provide our community with a place to play, learn, and celebrate our love of sports,” according to the center’s website.
“We are a fully-equipped sports center with a mission to develop well-rounded athletes in an environment that’s friendly, laid-back, and enjoyable for all,” it states. “Our goal is to give our players a safe space to grow and flourish in their sport while promoting health, development, and confidence.”
The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause. The center had closed for the night before the blaze tore through.
Rookie Providence officer, Pawtucket man charged in drug investigation
Destiny B. Viera, 25, joined the Providence Police Department last year. Jaylan Lopez, 24, of Pawtucket, was arrested early Friday after a months-long investigation. Both Viera and Lopez are charged with two counts of felony manufacturing/possession.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — A rookie Providence police officer and a Pawtucket man are charged with dealing drugs and distributing near a school.
A Providence spokeswoman said that Viera was still on probation as a new officer, and she is now terminated from the police force.
“Due to the seriousness of the allegation and in line with our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, the probationary officer will not be retained,” said Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez.
Viera was not committing the alleged crimes while on duty, Perez said.
Both Viera and Lopez are charged with two counts of felony manufacturing/possession with intent to deliver schedule I/II drugs, conspiracy, distribution or manufacturing in or near schools, and maintaining a common nuisance. They will be arraigned by a bail commissioner on Saturday.
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Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.
84-game seasons, shorter contracts coming to NHL
The NHL and NHLPA began negotiations in earnest this spring after agreeing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to jointly hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028. With revenue breaking records annually and the cap increasing exponentially in the coming years, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh voiced optimism about reaching an agreement quickly. The extension through 2030 provides the sport extended labor peace since the last lockout in 2012-13, which shortened that season to 48 games. The additions would be played within divisions, evening out the schedule to ensure four showdowns each season between rivals like Toronto and Boston, Dallas and Colorado, and Washington and Pittsburgh. Since 2013, players have been able to re-sign with their own team for up to eight years and sign with another for upto seven. Under the new CBA, each would be reduced by a year, to seven for re- Signing and six for changing teams. It still needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership.
They announced the deal Friday in Los Angeles before the first round of the draft. It still needs to be ratified by the Board of Governors and the full NHLPA membership.
An 84-game season is coming to the NHL as part of an extension of the collective bargaining agreement that has been tentatively agreed to by the league and the Players’ Association.
The NHL and NHLPA began negotiations in earnest this spring after agreeing at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to jointly hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028. With revenue breaking records annually and the cap increasing exponentially in the coming years, Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Marty Walsh voiced optimism about reaching an agreement quickly. There were no disagreements on a host of major issues like in previous bargaining talks.
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“There’s been tremendous growth, and what’s ahead is spectacular on many fronts,” said Toronto’s John Tavares, who’s going into his 17th season. “The predictability of things goes a long way, I think, for everyone in the sport. It’s great to have that partnership and how collaborative it’s been, which has been very different from 2012. It’s great to see and happy that the growth of the game and the sport and the business side of it is all kind of in sync and in synergy and we’re able to kind of continue to build off the many great things over the last few years.”
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The extension through 2030 provides the sport extended labor peace since the last lockout in 2012-13, which shortened that season to 48 games. Here is what is changing:
Longer season
Going from 82 to 84 games beginning in 2026-27 — making the season 1,344 total games — is expected to include a reduction in exhibition play, to four games apiece for the 32 teams.
The additions would be played within divisions, evening out the schedule to ensure four showdowns each season between rivals like Toronto and Boston, Dallas and Colorado, and Washington and Pittsburgh. Currently, there is a rotation that has some division opponents facing off only three times a season.
That imbalance is coming to an end, and this is not the first time the NHL has had an 84-game season. The league experimented with that in 1992-93 and ’93-94, when each team added a pair of neutral site games.
BOSTON, MA – MAY 28, 2025: 29bruins….At .Warrior Arena in Boston, Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman returns after he led US to gold medal at worlds. (David L Ryan/Globe Staff ) SECTION: SPORTS David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Shorter contracts
Since 2013, players have been able to re-sign with their own team for up to eight years and sign with another for up to seven. Under the new CBA, each would be reduced by a year, to seven for re-signing and six for changing teams.
Top players, given the injury risks in the sport, have preferred the longest contracts possible. The same goes for general managers, eager to keep talent in the fold as long as possible. Jeremy Swayman, Nathan MacKinnon, Sebastian Aho, Leon Draisaitl, Juuse Saros, Travis Konecny, Mathew Barzal and, within the past few months, Mikko Rantanen are all among the top players who have signed lucrative eight-year deals.
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“I guess that could be a rarity now,” said former Bruin Trent Frederic, who on Friday signed an eight-year contract to remain with the Oilers. “Eight years is better than seven. It’s good to lock in before that changes.”
But with the salary cap getting its biggest increases season by season over the next three years, the thinking had already begun to change. Auston Matthews re-signed for only four years with Toronto last summer, and Connor McDavid could also opt for a short-term contract extension with Edmonton.
Steven Stamkos and the Lightning were among the teams in recent years to take advantage of the salary cap rules — or lack thereof — in the playoffs. Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
Playoff cap
Currently, teams with players on long-term injured reserve can exceed the salary cap by roughly the amount of the players’ salaries until the playoffs begin.
Several times over the past decade, Stanley Cup contenders have used LTIR to activate players at the start of or early in the playoffs after they missed some or all of the regular season.
Florida did so with Matthew Tkachuk before winning the second of back-to-back titles, Vegas has done it with Mark Stone on multiple occasions, as has Tampa Bay with Nikita Kucherov and Chicago with Patrick Kane.
The rule has been criticized as an unfair loophole, a way to stockpile talent and then add even more for the postseason. After he and Carolina were eliminated by the Lightning in 2021, Dougie Hamilton quipped that the Hurricanes “lost to a team that’s $18 million over the cap.” Tampa Bay went back to back, and players wore T-shirts with that saying on it during their Cup celebration.
That will no longer be possible, though it’s not exactly clear how it will work.
Cause of massive four-alarm South Shore Sports Center blaze is under investigation
A massive four-alarm blaze at the South Shore Sports Center in South Hingham — unoccupied at the time — late Thursday night into early Friday morning. The fire caused major structural damage to the building — resulting in a complete shut-down of the facility at the beginning of one of its busiest seasons. There were no injuries reported, including among responding firefighters from Hingham, Norwell, Rockland, Scituate, Hull, Weymouth, Quincy, Cohasset, and Holbrook as part of an extensive mutual aid effort. No cause has yet been determined, according to Hingham Deputy Fire Chief Louis Lachance, who said the fire was mainly on the second floor in the kitchen and bar areas, where there was the heaviest damage. “There was a lot of structural damage, including to the steel beams,” he said, adding that “the building owner was there with insurance adjusters to determine next steps”
A massive four-alarm blaze at the South Shore Sports Center in South Hingham — unoccupied at the time — late Thursday night into early Friday morning that engulfed the roof in flames caused major structural damage to the building — resulting in a complete shut-down of the facility at the beginning of one of its busiest seasons.
There were no injuries reported, including among responding firefighters from Hingham, Norwell, Rockland, Scituate, Hull, Weymouth, Quincy, Cohasset, and Holbrook as part of an extensive mutual aid effort.
The alarms went off just before 11 p.m. The police were first at the scene and witnessed smoke coming from the roof at first, Hingham Deputy Fire Chief Louis Lachance told the Hingham Anchor.
“When our crews arrived, there was heavy fire coming through the roof,” he reported. “I was notified at home, and as I was heading to the scene, I called Weir River Water System [Managing Director/Superintendent] Russell Tierney directly to notify him about the fire in a large commercial building and that we would need large amounts of water.”
Tierney immediately sent staff to the scene “and they were able to divert water from the Turkey Hill tank to South Hingham to increase the water pressure,” according to Lachance.
Hingham firefighters used a “deck gun master stream” — which applies large volumes of water to fight fires — “and knocked down a lot of the fire on the roof,” Lachance said.
A second alarm was then struck for mutual aid assistance, with the fire subsequently escalating to four alarms. In addition to the local fire departments that assisted at the scene, Pembroke and Braintree fire department staff covered Hingham’s stations and handled other business. “There were a lot of moving parts,” Lachance said.
HFD crews made entry into the building, “but the fire was mainly on the second floor in the kitchen and bar areas, where there was the heaviest damage,” he reported. “There was a lot of structural damage, including to the steel beams.”
Because the building was unoccupied, “we pulled our firefighters out and set up ladder trucks to hit the fire from above, but unfortunately they use such massive volumes of water that there wasn’t enough pressure out of the hydrants to run them all at the same time, so we operated them separately to hit the fire from different angles,” Lachance said.
At the same time, the deck guns have a flow of thousands of gallons a minute.
Lachance emphasized that “the WRWS is fine. We have no issues with them. The ladder trucks use massive volumes of water.”
Fortunately, because the building had been unoccupied since closing an hour or hour and a half before the fire, “there were no life safety issues — no customers or staff inside and in harm’s way — and there was no reason for firefighters to be inside the building with no one inside to save,” he said.
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services and the Boston Sparks Association were both at the scene, providing emergency scene rehab — including water, Gatorade, and snacks to emergency responders.
The state fire marshal’s office is performing the investigation. No cause has yet been determined, according to Lachance.
“All the men and women who responded did an excellent job,” he said. “No one fire department can do it alone [during major fires]. We all help each other, and we would do the same for them.”
When Lachance left the scene this morning (June 27), “the building owner was there with insurance adjusters to determine next steps.”
The South Shore Sports Center offers youth and adult sports leagues, Kids World play center, birthday parties and family get-togethers, fundraisers and community gatherings, among other activities — along with school vacation programs.
Words from the Center’s website are a sad reminder now that it is closed of how much the facility means to the community: “We’re much more than just an athletic facility. We’re a community center with a variety of programming welcome to everyone.”
The Hingham Anchor reached out to South Shore Sports Center owner Liz Lima for comment and is awaiting her response.
4-alarm fire tears through South Shore sports complex
The South Shore Baseball Club, which operates from the facility, faces immediate challenges due to the fire. The cause of the fire remains unclear, which firefighters have identified as the heaviest fire in the dining room and office area. The building is probably a total loss, according to fire officials. Parents came to the scene Friday morning to see the damage and express their shock and sadness. “I’m pretty upset right now. I’m not going to cry on-air, but I’m close to that point, and my daughters, I know, would be devastated, like many others,” said Sean Cummings. “Baseball will go on. We’ll have equipment by Monday, somehow,” said Frank Niles, from the club. “It’s going to be a loss for the community if they’re not able to rebuild,” said Hingham Deputy Fire Chief David Levenson. “We’re fine, but if the number of people that have called or texted me this morning, we’re fine,” said Lee Niles.
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A popular South Shore sports complex is likely a total loss and will have to be torn down after a four-alarm fire overnight, according to Hingham, Massachusetts, fire officials. The alarms at South Shore Sports Center went off just after 11 p.m., and flames were shooting from the entire roofline when firefighters arrived. Crews found heavy fire in the second-floor kitchen area.”The building is probably a total loss,” said Hingham Deputy Fire Chief David Levenson.The damage inside is substantial, according to fire officials. At daybreak, crews were putting out hotspots. There were no injuries to firefighters.”This has been around for 25 years or more. Soccer, basketball, baseball, everything around here. It’s going to be a loss for the community if they’re not able to rebuild,” he said.Parents came to the scene Friday morning. “I’m pretty upset right now. I’m not going to cry on-air, but I’m close to that point, and my daughters, I know, would be devastated, like many others,” said Sean Cummings.”I have two boys, and they’re winter babies, and we had their birthday parties here every year. So, it’s tough. Since they were little. So, the second I saw it this morning on social media, I had to come by and see if it was real,” said Leeandria Mannion. The South Shore Baseball Club, which operates from the facility, faces immediate challenges due to the fire, including the loss of baseball equipment stored inside.”We’ll get equipment somewhere. I mean, there’s equipment in there that if we can get in there and get it, we’re fine, but if the number of people that have called or texted me this morning, ” said Frank Niles from the club. “Baseball will go on. We’ll have equipment by Monday, somehow.”The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating. While the cause of the fire remains unclear, firefighters have identified the heaviest fire in the office, dining room and kitchen area, which may help pinpoint the origin.