Choose Granite Countertops in Bridgewater, MA for Elegance and Durability

Flames tore through a home in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, on Sunday, destroying it.

The East Bridgewater Fire Department says it received multiple 911 calls around 12:12 p.m. for a structure fire at 53 Old Bedford Road, and multiple neighboring fire departments responded to provide mutual aid, including Brockton, Abington, Bridgewater, Hanson, West Bridgewater and Whitman.

A passerby saw the flames and banged on the door to alert those inside. The fire chief says the resident told him his wife, their son and dog had to escape through a window. All residents were able to escape without injury, however several pet cats were unaccounted for.

The fire was advanced by the time firefighters arrived on scene, with flames spreading to much of the home -- a 2-story, L-shaped welling -- as well as vehicles and the deck.

There were also some issues with a fire hydrant that delayed getting a water supply established, the fire department said.

The home is a total loss, the damage so severe that it was torn down later Sunday, something that East Bridgewater's fire chief says is not a common occurrence.

Old Bedford Road residents say they're worried sick about their neighbors, who they identified as the Adao family and another woman who lived on the other side of the duplex -- all left with nothing.

"It's devastating. They're good people," one neighbor said.

The Red Cross was responding to assist those displaced.

Two people who were driving down the street at the time said the flames were as tall as the trees.

"There was all black smoke, pretty heavy flames, it was very hot, you could feel it when we were walking on the sidewalk, you could actually feel the heat," Ethan Howard said. "I've seen fires before but nothing like this one...The firefighters took a little time to get it but they got it."

Phillip DelVecchio and his mother spent the entire day watching dozens of firefighters battling the intense flames and heavy smoke.

"I got out of the shower and heard like banging noises and I come outside, and the whole front porch is on fire and I basically watched the whole house collapse and everything," DelVecchio said.

All that's left now is a pile of rubble.

"It’s scary," Varnell DelVechio said. "It’s really scary to see something like this happen in your own neighborhood so close to home."

Officials say it looks like the fire may have started on the right side of the home. The cause is still under investigation.

EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. —

A black bear was spotted close to an East Bridgewater school as students were dismissed Wednesday.

Police said there was "just a little excitement around town" when the animal was seen wandering behind the Gordon W. Mitchell Middle School on Central Street.

Students were dismissed early Wednesday because it was an early release day.

Officers said they kept the bear in their sight the whole time, and there were no safety concerns, adding it was best to "just let him/her be."

No injuries were reported.

East Bridgewater resident Curt Reichenbach said he spotted the tail end of the bear as it was walking behind his shed, which is where he keeps his compost pile. Reichenbach said he had a feeling a bear had been lurking around his yard after one of his bird feeders went missing with only a steel ring left behind.

"I'm assuming something very strong ripped this thing and opened it up," Reichenbach said. "I can't even bend it."

The bear also chowed down on trash that was left outside, gobbled up a food delivery that was on a porch and snacked on pumpkins that were set out as fall decorations.

Chris Silva, who works for The Mosquito Guy, spotted the bear roaming in the yard he was about to spray and waited until it passed on by before getting to work.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say I was very nervous spraying the yard after I seen this bear," Silva said.

Jason Zimmer, supervisor of MassWildlife's Southeast District Office, said he was not surprised the bear ventured into East Bridgewater.

"This past year, we've had confirmed as many as four or five bears in southeastern Massachusetts," Zimmer said.

Zimmer said the state's bear population is growing by 8% to 10% annually due to conservation efforts.

"We're starting to see more and more of these younger males, 1- to 3-year-old males, that are striking out, looking for that vacant territory," Zimmer said.

For people who are looking to guard their yards, pets or livestock from bears, Zimmer recommends putting up electric fencing on their property.

Zimmer said black bears should be left alone, but if one gets too close, people should make noise and yell at it to get it to go away.

Click here to learn more about black bears. Click here to learn how to best prevent conflicts with black bears.

EAST BRIDGEWATER − A new Signature Healthcare location is ready provide a "more convenient and comprehensive" health care experience for patients in East Bridgewater and the surrounding communities with a new multi-specialty medical facility on Route 18.

Signature Healthcare and Signature Medical Group are celebrating the opening of this new medical facility with an open house and ribbon-cutting.

The community is invited to attend the celebration, which will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the new facility, located on Compass Way.

"This new Signature Healthcare location is great for East Bridgewater and the community," said Lorraine McGrath, associate vice president of marketing and communications at Signature.

The facility will offer patients the "much needed" primary care services along with additional access to medical specialties in the same building, right in their community, McGrath said.

The state-of-the-art facility will house a variety of new and expanded programs, including cardiology, dermatology, obstetrics and gynecology, primary care, urgent care, as well as lab and radiology services.

"It becomes one-stop shopping," McGrath said.

If a patient needs a primary care doctor, lab work, radiology or to see a specialist, they can have it all done in that building, she said.

Former Compass Medical patients welcome

The new Signature Healthcare location is in the former Compass Medical building.

Compass Medical, the Quincy-based chain of medical clinics and urgent care facilities with locations in Easton, East Bridgewater, Taunton, Quincy, Braintree and Middleboro, abruptly closed all six of its offices in May.

This Signature Healthcare operation has nothing to do with Compass, McGrath said, but some Compass primary care providers and staff have joined Signature Healthcare and Signature Medical Group at different locations.

In totality, seven Compass primary care providers have joined Signature Healthcare and Signature Medical Group, McGrath said. Out of the seven, four are returning to this building.

“We have added 6,500 new patients into Signature Healthcare since the Compass bankruptcy," McGrath said, "and adding more daily."

Signature Healthcare is welcoming back former Compass patients.

“For the general public, they can go back to the exact same building and potentially have the same doctor that they did at Compass,” McGrath said.

Primary care and obstetrics offices at the Abington location will also be relocating to this new East Bridgewater location, McGrath said.

Open house and ribbon-cutting

The celebratory grand opening will include building tours, career recruitment opportunities, free on-site flu clinic and blood pressure checks, an "Ask a Doc table," children's activities, food and refreshments.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Signature Medical Group medical specialists, schedule appointments and explore its expanded services. Patient services will include financial counseling and a patient ambassador.

"We try to continue to provide services our community needs," McGrath said. "We look forward to offering expanded services in the community."

When will the facility open?

This new medical facility will begin seeing patients on Oct. 30, 2023.

The medical building is handicap accessible with plenty of free parking.

Patients can request a primary care appointment at MySignatureCare.org/EastBridgewater.

About Signature Healthcare

Since its founding as Brockton Hospital in 1896, Signature Healthcare has been servicing the Greater Brockton community for over 125 years.

Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital remains closed since Feb. 7, when a fire broke out in a transformer room.

Residents are reminded not to go to Brockton Hospital for emergency treatment. Instead, many reasons people go to the emergency room can be treated instead at urgent care centers. Signature Healthcare has a 24-hour urgent care center on the hospital campus at 650 Centre St. and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Signature Medical Group at 110 Liberty St.

For more information about Signature Healthcare, including services and locations, visit www.signature-healthcare.org.

Staff writer Kathy Bossa can be reached by email at kbossa@enterprisenews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.

BRIDGEWATER — More than 240 bikers from the Bridgewater 49ers Club recently rode through the streets of Bridgewater to support a local three-year-old boy who’s fighting cancer.

Kash Doughty, 3, of Bridgewater, was diagnosed with ewing sarcoma, a tumor that is a rare form of pediatric cancer, in September. On Sunday, Nov. 19, he was able to sit outside and watch the bikers go by, along with the more than 400 people who came out to support him and his family.

“He was totally in his glory. It was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen,” said Kash's aunt, Kerry Buckley.

The hundreds of motorcycles and 15 exotic cars left the Bridgewater 49ers Club, located at 161 High St., around noon and rode five miles through the streets of Bridgewater to Kash's house and back.

In addition to the vehicle parade, there was also food, a band, raffles and a silent auction to support Kash's parents, Kaitlyn Silva and Kevin Doughty, who both took an indefinite leave of absence from work.

At the end of the ride, a motorist blasted Kash's favorite song, “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen, on his radio. Buckley said there was a huge crowd standing around the car singing it at the top of their lungs.

“It’s the song he sings in the hospital, too,” she said.

“In talking to some of the riders that were part of the club, they said they’ve been doing bike runs for many many years and they’ve never seen anything like it,” Buckley said. “It’s very overwhelming how the community has come together — Bridgewater, Raynham, Brockton, West Bridgewater. There’s no words.”

A Bridgewater family

Kash lives in Bridgewater with his mom, Kaitlyn Silva, his dad Kevin Doughty, and his 11-year-old sister Khloe Doughty. Silva has lived in Bridgewater her entire life, while Kevin Doughty is from nearby Abington. Khloe is in fifth grade at Williams Intermediate School, a part of Bridgewater Public Schools.

Kash is an absolute wild man, Buckley said.

“His favorite thing is Spiderman, and he loves Marvel and playing with his 16 cousins or his uncles,” she said. “His personality and smile are so infectious. He truly is the cutest little boy.”

A difficult diagnosis

It all started in August of this year, when Kash's mom, Silva, noticed a small bump under his right shoulder blade.

“She thought it was a mosquito bite, then the next day it was a little bigger and she didn’t like how it looked so she brought him in to the pediatrician,” Buckley said. “They said they’d keep an eye on it.”

As the bump continued to grow rapidly, Silva decided to take Kash to a dermatologist.

“[The dermatologist] told her he was going to drain it and send it off to pathology. That it was probably nothing,” Buckley said.

But it wasn’t nothing.

On Sept. 5, 3-year-old Kash was diagnosed with an ewing sarcoma, a rare form of pediatric cancer that grows a tumor in the soft tissue and bones.

The family were “shocked, horrified and scared,” Buckley said.

Undergoing treatment

After Kash's diagnosis, a tumor team consisting of oncologists from Boston Children’s, Mass General, Brigham and Women’s and Dana Farber created a nine-month-to-one-year treatment plan consisting of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.

“He’ll have 14 rounds of chemo. He just finished his fifth round last Tuesday (Nov. 14),” Buckley said. “He will have surgery at the site in mid-December and then will continue chemo until it's over and then do radiation."

According to Buckley, oncologists gave the family a promising prognosis.

“When he went for his original PET scan before treatment, there was no sign of cancer. But because it’s such an aggressive type, they need to do all that stuff,” she said. “They gave him an 89 percent chance of survival.”

Buckley says Kash doesn’t know the extent of his diagnosis, but he does know he’s sick.

“He has good days and bad days. He’s a fighter. When he isn’t feeling sick, he has all these plans of what he’s going to do,” she said.

A long road ahead

With nine rounds of chemotherapy to go, a surgery and radiation, Kash and his family have a long road ahead of them.

“Since last round of chemo, Kash has been experiencing a lot of nausea, vomiting, pain, fatigue. He has been on 12 medications a day around the clock. It's not easy for him right now,” Silva wrote in an entry on CaringBridge, a platform that allows people to share health updates with family and friends.

“We are both tired constantly and our nights and days and sleep are still very off from the last hospital stay. Little things that as a mom just hurts. Like him not eating like he used to or making him food or getting what he loves and then not being able to even look at it once it's done cooking or picking it up because he feels so sick,” she continued.

How to help the Doughty/Silva family

A GoFundMe has been set up with the goal of raising $80,000 for the family. As of Nov. 21, almost 800 people have donated a total of $75,271.

“Kevin and Kate are both taking a leave of absence from their jobs for the foreseeable future, while they navigate their new reality of hospital stays and doctor appointments all while trying to keep life somewhat normal for Khloe,” GoFundMe organizer Kerrin Ambler wrote. “With that in mind, the funds will go towards medical, travel and household expenses.”

A Venmo has also been set up under the handle @KashStrong.

Community members can also sign up to deliver meals for the family through Meal Train. Gift cards for meal delivery services like Door Dash can also be gifted through the website.

“I am so thankful for everything everyone has and continues to do for me and my family,” Silva wrote on CaringBridge. “Strangers, people who know my family, all the kind words, support, dinners. Everything you all have done is just truly so helpful and appreciated. I wish I could hug all of you and personally tell you to your faces how thankful I am. I hope my words find you and you know I'm grateful for you.”

Enterprise staff writer Amelia Stern can be reached at astern@enterprisenews.com.

BRIDGEWATER — Town Manager Michael Dutton and Department of Public Works Director Azu Etoniru wish to inform residents and motorists that High Street will close Monday, June 26 for the Town River Restoration project.

High Street and the bridge were originally expected to close on June 15. The delay of the closure was caused by a delay in receiving a permit to waive the time of year restriction. Seasonal or time of year restrictions are placed on in-water construction work to protect marine resources in Massachusetts.

High Street and the bridge will close to traffic on Monday. They are currently projected to re-open in mid-October.

As part of the project, the High Street Dam and High Street Bridge crossing the Town River, near 151 High St., will be removed and the bridge will be rebuilt to modern standards. The project will be completed over an approximately four-month period.

The closure will impact traffic in the surrounding areas. Detour signage and electronic sign boards warning motorists of the closure have been positioned in the area. Local traffic will be able to access homes and businesses on each side of the bridge during closure.

Click here to view the detour map.

The Town River Restoration project proposes to remove the High Street (Jenkins) Dam, replace the undersized and aging High Street road-stream crossing over Town River, and protect and enhance surrounding infrastructure and public utilities.

The removal of the High Street Dam and replacement of the High Street Bridge is part of an ongoing collaborative effort to improve coastal ecosystem resilience in the region by connecting the major tributaries of the Taunton River with the main stem, Mount Hope Bay, Narragansett Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. The project will reconnect 10 miles of unimpeded river access for multiple species of fish and open 354 acres of river herring spawning and rearing habitat at Lake Nippenicket. Overall, the project aims to restore and strengthen natural ecosystems for the benefit of the coastal community and the environment.

The High Street Dam was constructed circa 1919. It has numerous structural deficiencies and has outlived its intended use. It also obstructs fish passage and natural river processes and jeopardizes the upstream High Street road-stream crossing, were it to fail.

The project will replace the High Street road-stream crossing with a 55-foot clear-span bridge. The proposed design spans the full width of Town River and can pass the 500-year recurrence interval storm including climate change projections through 2070.

The Town River Restoration Project will result in measurable improvements to both community and habitat resilience in the Taunton River watershed. Specifically, the project intends to: restore aquatic connectivity to a critical segment of Town River, engage seven governmental and six non-governmental agencies in resiliency activities, and protect people and property from increasingly severe flooding resulting from climate change.

Flooding is identified as the most frequent hazard affecting the town in a Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, and road-stream crossing replacement and dam removal are prioritized actions to improve climate resiliency in the Massachusetts State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Change Plan. As a direct result of this project, 37 commercial and residential properties that border the High Street Dam’s impoundment are expected to experience a reduction in flooding during severe storms.

The project is being completed by the Town of Bridgewater, in partnership with the Town of West Bridgewater, state Division of Ecological Restoration, state Division of Marine Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Restoration Center, Old Colony Planning Council, Town River Fishery Committee, The Nature Conservancy, Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, Save the Bay, Taunton River Watershed Alliance, and Advance Pollution Control Corporation (dam owner).

Since 2017 the town has worked with the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration and numerous state and federal partners to plan and fund the dam removal and bridge replacement project. This effort has raised over $8 million to completely offset the cost of the project to local taxpayers.

Additional information about the project can be found on the Town Manager’s page.

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