LOWELL, Mass. — Several firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion as they battled a raging blaze that destroyed a 134-year-old multi-family home in Lowell on Thursday.
The multi-alarm fire tore through a three-level home on Aiken Avenue and prompted a large emergency response.
Video from the scene showed smoke billowing from busted windows and siding melting off the home as firefighters doused the heavily charred structure with water.
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Lowell Fire Chief Phil Charron said that eleven firefighters required medical attention; four serious enough to require hospital care.
EMTs were seen treating the firefighters suffering from heat exhaustion as concerned neighborhood residents watched from afar.
“And it really shot up through the roof,” said John McMeniman, who lives down the street. “It had to be at least another 10, 15 feet in the air.”
Many of the houses in this area of Lowell, known as Centralville, have old bones under their vinyl siding.
“I know a lot of these houses have horsehair plaster still inside them,” said Neighbor Lisa Hodgson.
Ancient construction materials may have intensified the fire -- and kept it burning. Hours after firefighters arrived, hoses were still pumping water onto the skeletal remains of the attic.
While a number of people lived in the house, only one encountered the fire.
Boston 25 News spoke with a woman who said her daughter lived on the first floor, where the fire may have started.
The woman did not share her name, but said her daughter lived in the doomed structure, with her husband and children -- and had just returned from grocery shopping.
“She went in back for a second and could hear the fire alarm,” she said. “Her husband looked and said, there’s a fire get out!”
She said her daughter and husband grabbed two adult dogs and then tried to rescue two puppies still inside.
“She opened the window to grab the puppies and the window burst on her,” she said. “The bedroom was up in flames.”
Her mother said she was also suffering from, understandably, anxiety.
“She’s okay, she’s alive, she’s out, her husband’s out, her four kids are out. They’re in school, thank God,” she said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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