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Still at the site of the fire almost 12 hours after the blaze began, Fire Chief Gary Ryan watched a two-family home on Quigley Avenue in Chelmsford get torn down.
The two-and-a-half story home, built in 1880, broke out in heavy fire on Friday, April 21, sending firefighters to the scene at approximately 5:15 a.m., Ryan said.
It took three and a half hours for crews to extinguish the flames, using a ladder pipe and four or five hand lines. In older houses fire is more likely to travel up walls, Ryan said, making this fire more dangerous.
The back of the roof collapsed during the firefighters' work, allowing fresh air the get into the home and literally fan the flames.
Radiant heat from the heavy fire melted the siding on multiple nearby homes, requiring those houses to also be evacuated.
Fortunately, all residents were evacuated by the time Ryan got on the scene. One firefighter received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
“There's a lot of community support for the displaced residents," Ryan said. "People have been asking how they can help. In my years at the Chelmsford Fire Department the community has always been very supportive. It's great to see."
Support is flooding in through financial donations as well. Over $2,000 were raised in the first five hours of a GoFundMe designed to help get one of the residents back on their feet.
"I'm starting this fundraiser to help my fiance's family start over after losing their home and everything inside to a house fire," wrote the fundraiser's creator, Ashley Herbert.
Investigators had little time to search the home for the cause of the fire because the structure was dangerous and unstable, Ryan said. An emergency order allowed the building to get excavated later the same day.
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