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Tag: hazards

  • Firefighters reunite family with missing dog after Lawrence fire

    Firefighters reunite family with missing dog after Lawrence fire

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    LAWRENCE — Some Sunset Avenue residents were reunited with their beloved dog after a fire ripped through a multifamily home Monday evening.

    About 20 residents were displaced from the home at 34 Sunset Ave. The accidental fire ignited on the second floor of the building, “which appeared to have undergone unpermitted renovations” and had illegal apartments, Fire Chief Brian Moriarty said.

    The house also lacked adequate working smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and methods of access and egress, Moriarty said.

    Firefighters initially conducted a search for anyone who was possibly trapped. All residents had safely evacuated, however.

    A small dog also made it out of the house Monday evening. But come Tuesday morning, the residents could not find their pet.

    Firefighter Jean Jimenez battled the blaze Monday and also worked an overnight shift Tuesday. He and other firefighters returned to 34 Sunset Ave. on Tuesday as part of their ongoing training.

    While inside the charred home Tuesday, Jimenez found the little missing dog. She was on the first floor.

    “They were extremely happy,” Jimenez said of the family members, who immediately gathered around their dog.

    Moriarty said firefighters worked swiftly to contain and knock down the fire. The home is “unhabitable” and the building inspector was notified of the unsafe conditions.

    Allowing five apartments in a two-family is home is extremely dangerous, Moriarty said.

    “It’s unsafe,” he added. “People don’t realize how close to death they just came … I am terrified we are going to have a disaster someday.”

    Lawrence firefighters routinely encounter similar conditions and living situations when fighting fires.

    “Things went really well,” Moriarty said. “But we are really lucky we averted disaster again.”

    The house, built in 1930, is valued at $733,100, according to city assessing records.

    Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill.

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    By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

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  • Firefighters soak hot spots from Sunday’s brush fire

    Firefighters soak hot spots from Sunday’s brush fire

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    Gloucester firefighters and those from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation were out in the woods off Dory Road on Monday morning dousing hot spots from a brush fire Sunday that appears to have been started at an encampment, according to the fire chief.

    Gloucester Firefighters Local 762 posted Sunday on Facebook that firefighters were working with Rockport Fire and DCR to manage the blaze, crediting Group 3 firefighters for doing a “great job … given the limited access and rough terrain.” Rehab 5 also responded to provide rehabilitation services for firefighters.

    The Gloucester police log shows a 911 call for “black smoke in the area” of Dory Road at 11:20 a.m. Sunday. A subsequent 911 call reported “smoke near Blackburn” at 11:29 a.m.

    A caller from Stage Fort Park reported seeing smoke coming from the Blackburn Industrial Park area, according to a police report. 

    The smoke could be seen from the water. Rockport’s dispatch center related the town’s harbormaster saw black smoke coming from the same area. Dispatchers notified the MBTA.

    Signs the area held an encampment included an old mattress, tent poles and a cooler in the woods, according to photos shared on Facebook and Times photo editor Paul Bilodeau. The location is about a half-mile into the woods.

    Fire Chief Eric Smith said an area of 100 feet by 100 feet burned between Dory Road of Blackburn Industrial Park and the railroad tracks of the Rockport commuter rail line. With the dry weather, the fire was able to get “deep into the peat” where it can smolder underground and reignite. Smith said a small crew was out Monday hosing down the area.

    He said he heard radio communications of there being an encampment, but the cause of the fire had yet to be determined. He said brush fires in the woods in the area from encampments have been an issue in the past.

    In mid-May 2023, firefighters doused a brush fire that burned about 1 1/2 acres in the vicinity of the Babson Water Treatment Plant. It was the same general area as a brush fire that burned 2 acres along the southbound side of the Route 128 Extension on May 8, caused by a campfire.

    With this latest stretch of dry weather, it’s not just campfires that pose a fire risk but other forms of outdoor fires such as those in a fire pit or chiminea, Smith said.

    “Anything that gets going, it’s just going to take off,” he said.

    He said brush fires don’t start on their own most of the time.

    “Somebody did something incendiary that got away from them,” Smith said.

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    By Ethan Forman | Staff Writer

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  • Crews douse fire at State Fish Pier processor

    Crews douse fire at State Fish Pier processor

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    No injuries were reported after a fire broke out in equipment inside a large fish processing building at 3 State Fish Pier late Wednesday morning.

    Gloucester fire companies responded to a working fire at 11:05 a.m. in a portion of the expansive industrial complex on the pier with a “Cape Seafoods Gloucester” sign on the exterior. They made quick work of the fire, according to a social media post by Gloucester Firefighters Local 762.

    “Another great stop Group 1,” the post read.

    “Upon arrival we had some thick, black smoke coming out the windows,” Deputy Chief Andrew McRobb, the Group 1 shift commander. said. “Employees informed me that it was a fiberglass turbine that got going, so it was fiberglass burning.”

    “Crews showed up, made an offensive attack with an inch-and-three-quarter (hose), finished putting the fire out and we are in the process of venting the building right now,” he said at 11:45 a.m.

    “No injuries,” McRobb said. “Crews did a search of the building,” he said, but nobody was inside when crews arrived. 

    “A lot of the employees did the bulk of the work prior to our arrival,” McRobb said. When asked what business this was, McRobb said it was “some type of fish processing.”

    Fire companies responded to both sides of the large complex; Engine 1 and the deputy chief to the North Channel side of the building, and Ladder 1, Engine 5 and Engine 2 to the South Channel side. Also responding was Beauport Ambulance Service and a Gloucester Fire Rescue squad. The Police Department’s patrol boat was seen on the water in the North Channel.

    After the fire was extinguished, a couple of firefighters could be seen opening a high window along the back of the facility to vent smoke. Some workers standing outside said everyone was OK when asked.

    The company, Cape Seafoods, Inc., was able to remain open for business after firefighters conducted extensive ventilation of the building.

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    By Ethan Forman | Staff Writer

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  • Ipswich brush fire extinguished near home

    Ipswich brush fire extinguished near home

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    IPSWICH — The Fire Department extinguished a brush fire near a home on Wednesday and no injuries were reported, officials said.

    About 4:41 p.m., the Fire Department was called to the area of 19 James Road, near Dix Road and the Ipswich Country Club, for a report of a brush fire, Fire Chief Paul Parisi reported in a news release.

    Engine 4, under the command of Lt. Gus McInnis, was the first company to arrive and found an estimated 75-foot-by-75-foot section of brush burning about 100 yards from a home.

    An additional engine was called. Mutual aid firefighters from Rowley responded, while firefighters from Essex and Topsfield covered Ipswich stations. Off-duty and call members of the Ipswich Fire Department responded as well.

    Through a spokesman, Parisi said the fire was under control within an hour. First responders cleared the scene in less than two hours.

    The cause of the brush fire is under investigation and it would be unusual for such a fire to spontaneously ignite, he said.

    While the brush fire was being extinguished, Ipswich Police and Action EMS responded to a motor vehicle crash in the area of 80 Linebrook Road, and to medical calls on County Road and Water Street.

    “The three-tiered response system we operate under here in Ipswich with police, fire and EMS, as well as our mutual aid partners, were critical in handling these simultaneous emergencies today,” Parisi said in the release. “We thank our partners for helping us when we needed them.”

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  • Woman dies in Georgetown blaze

    Woman dies in Georgetown blaze

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    GEORGETOWN — A woman died early Sunday in a four-alarm house fire on East Main Street.

    Firefighters rescued the seriously injured woman from the second story of the burning 2½-story, single-family home but she later died at an area hospital, according to Georgetown Fire Chief Matt McKay.

    The woman, whose name was not released, was carried out of a window and down a ladder. Three other occupants were able to safely evacuate after the fire broke out at 238 E. Main St. shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, he said.

    Huge flames engulfing the roof of the wood-frame home were shooting about 20 feet into the sky as firefighters arrived.

    Firefighters from more than a dozen communities battled the blaze until bringing it under control at 12:46 a.m. Crews remained at the scene of the burned home, which was declared a total loss.

    The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Georgetown Fire Department with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, McKay said.

    As the blaze continued to burn out of control, a second alarm was struck shortly before 11 p.m. to bring in firefighters from surrounding communities.

    Third and fourth alarms were required to bring in more firefighters. East Main Street (Route 133) was closed in both directions for several hours during the blaze.

    Firefighters from the Rowley, West Newbury, Newbury, Boxford, Newburyport, Topsfield, North Andover, Lawrence, Middleton, Haverhill, Groveland, Amesbury, Ipswich and Amesbury fire departments responded to the fire and provided station coverage.

    Rehab 5, Cataldo Ambulance Service and Pridestar Trinity EMS also responded. The American Red Cross was notified to assist the displaced residents.

    The Georgetown Municipal Light Department responded and turned off power to the home.

    Investigators said Sunday that no additional information would be released until further notice.

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