Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Dateo Jr. said firefighters responding to the two-alarm fire at 14 Highland Ave. at 12:36 a.m. found one victim on the first floor and the other on the second floor.
Advertisement
Both were unconscious and not breathing, Dateo said. They were later pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the statement from the fire marshal’s office.
There appeared to be no working smoke detectors inside the home, the statement said.
“I think there was a deficiency in the system,” Dateo said. “Either smoke detectors were taken down or something was a problem, because we found some on the floor.”
The fire does not appear to be suspicious, according to the fire marshal’s statement.
Fitchburg fire Captain Dante Suarez,who was among 31 firefighters from Fitchburg and Leominister who fought the fire, said Highland Avenue is a short distance from Fitchburg’s central fire station and crews were at the scene quickly.
A hazmat team also responded to the scene after reports of an acrid smell. Hazmat officials found a couple of barrels storing chemicals in an unused photography lab inside the home but determined the lab was “fairly safe,” Suarez said.
Crews had the fire mostly knocked down in about 15 to 20 minutes Suarez said.
“Everything went as smooth as it could, seeing how this fire did get a pretty strong hold on us, and got going pretty quickly,” Suarez said.
Advertisement
On Highland Avenue late Sunday morning, workers were boarding up windows of the burned house. Much of home’s front facade was burnt from the ground to the roofline, and its vinyl siding had melted away.
Elida Cabrera, 35, who lives next door, watched the fire with her two teenage sons who woke her up after spotting flames erupting just feet from their home.
“We were worried because we thought the fire would spread,” she said standing on her doorstep late Sunday morning.
Cabrera and her sons fled their apartment and saw police officers evacuating neighbors.
Moments later fire crews arrived, she said.
As she and her sons stood on the sidewalk, Cabrera said, they could see flames shooting out of the home’s windows and smoke billowing overhead, then crews pulling a man from the fire.
Firefighters performed chest compressions on him before he was taken away in an ambulance.
“It was very scary, there was a lot of fire,” she said.
Kevin Delaire, 25, who lives a few doors down from the scene, said he learned late Sunday morning from his father that the two men had died. “This is extremely sad,” he said.
The fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal’s office, State Police detectives assigned to the Worcester district attorney’s office, and Fitchburg’s police and fire departments.
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com. Amanda Kaufman can be reached at amanda.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandakauf1.
Advertisement
"fire" - Google News
January 05, 2020 at 02:21PM
https://ift.tt/2SXf6to
Investigators looking at overloaded power strip in deadly Fitchburg fire - The Boston Globe
"fire" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2rPfnCQ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Investigators looking at overloaded power strip in deadly Fitchburg fire - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment