LYNN — Eleven people were left homeless after a four-alarm fire tore through a three-family home on Broadway late Saturday morning, the Fire Department said.
The Lynn Fire Department responded to a call for a building fire at 30 Broadway at 11:30 a.m., and quickly struck a second, third and fourth alarm. Two hours later, the fire was still raging, which ultimately caused the house to start collapsing.
“The house is collapsing as we speak,” said Fire Chief Stephen Archer shortly before 1:30 p.m. “It’s going to be a total loss.”
Seven adults and four children lived in the two-and-a-half-story home. The Red Cross was on scene assisting the tenants, including helping them find temporary shelter, if necessary, Archer said.
All residents of the home were able to self-evacuate. None of the residents were injured, but a firefighter had to be transported to Salem Hospital to be treated for an exhaustion-related ailment, Archer said.
The lack of water pressure in the area hindered firefighters’ ability to effectively attack the fire, Archer said. Upon arrival, crews saw heavy fire in the back of the building, on the home’s porches, he said.
Firefighters started to quickly attack the flames, and were starting to make progress on knocking down the fire when they lost water pressure from the hydrant. The effort was further hindered when firefighters lost water pressure from a second hydrant, as well, Archer said.
“We found out we had water-pressure (issues) throughout the area … throughout the incident,” said Archer. “We were never able to make a good, decisive interior attack.”
Archer said the strategy had to shift to concentrating on preventing the fire spreading to the two homes on either side of the main building. He said the department was also concerned about the fire spreading to the woods behind the burning building.
While the two homes on either side of 30 Broadway sustained exterior fire damage, Archer said, the damage to those neighboring buildings could have been worse.
“Crews did a fantastic job of protecting those exposures and preventing them from igniting fully,” said Archer.
An eight-year resident of 30 Broadway, Jalisa Thornton, was an hour away, at her cousin’s basketball game in Stoughton, when she began receiving calls from her family members that her home was on fire.
Thornton lives on the first floor with her 12-year-old daughter, who was at a friend’s house down the street when the fire broke out, she said.
“I don’t know what to think,” said Thornton, after making it back to her neighborhood and embracing her family members, who live nearby and were waiting for her to arrive.
Thornton said she would be staying with her family, now that her home has been declared a total loss.
“She lost everything,” said Sabrina Jacobs, 49, of her niece, Thornton. “I’m just thankful that my nieces were not home. (The house is) literally brought to the ground.”
Jacobs lives next door to Thornton, and had initially alerted her niece to the fire. She also called her brother, Thornton’s father, who lives in Lynn and went to the scene to help out while his daughter was traveling home.
“She’s upset,” said Crittenden Thornton, 56, of his daughter. “Her mom passed away a couple of years ago, so a lot of memories are in the house.”
He said his daughter would be staying with him and his parents.
Jacobs said she was not at home, either, when her niece’s home caught on fire. She had just left home to run an errand and was alerted to the fire by one of her friends, who was checking to see if she was OK.
“When I came back, I just saw the whole building in flames,” said Jacobs.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, Archer said, adding that it probably would remain unclear for a while. Also unclear, he said, is what caused the water-pressure issues throughout the area.
“All we know is that it caused us major issues,” said Archer. “It essentially cost us the ability to make a quick attack and make some headway on this fire.”
A number of other Fire Departments also responded Saturday, including Marblehead, Peabody, Salem, Swampscott, Chelsea, Melrose, and Middleton, Archer said.
