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The fire broke out early in the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 3 at a mill building on Broadway Street. There was heavy fire damage to the fifth floor as well as heavy water damage throughout the building and smoke damage on the left side of the building, Lawrence Fire Chief Brian Moriarty said to Daily Voice.
"Definitely the guys saved the building," Moriarty said. "It was an excellent fire fighting job. Outstanding technique."
Firefighters quickly advanced a large line up the outside of the building to the fourth floor windows. From there, they advanced the line to the fifth floor and attacked the fire, following up with a backup line.
"The firefighters did a tremendous job," Moriarty said. "It's a very good example of why firefighters train the way they do, to stick together. It's a very large commercial building, heavy smoke conditions, you could easily be lost inside of a large mill building like this. They stayed on their lines, they stayed in a group, there were no injuries."
Sprinklers in the building were functioning, but were likely not working as intended, Moriarty said.
Electric devices can cause fires, Moriarty said. He suggested that any heat-producing devices should be kept at least three feet away from combustible materials.
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