Bad luck bolt ignites blaze in Peabody

PEABODY – The saying “bad luck comes in threes” hits close to home for residents of the Highlands at Dearborn apartment complex in Peabody.Yet another fire struck the development Wednesday afternoon, making this the third in a year and the second in less than two months. The determined cause this time around: Mother Nature.Peabody firefighters were called to the scene at 1:23 p.m. after receiving word from police that a resident reported smoke coming from their roof after it had been struck by lightning.”It was a noise I had never heard,” said resident Michael Fernandes whose Building 3 apartment was hit. “The smoke alarm went off and I ran outside and saw smoke from the roof.”The front-facing room belonged to his two young daughters, ages 6 and 3. The older of the two wept in his arms as they watched firefighters work on their home from a safer location across the way.”We were just laying on the couch and heard the sound,” recalled Fernandes’ girlfriend, Kristina DiLorenzo, who has lived in the unit for more than a year and a half. “It started smoking, but I knew how quickly these buildings go up.” She said she immediately called 911.Crews from Marblehead, Middleton, Salem, Lynnfield and Lynn arrived on scene just as local police had the building evacuated. Several holes had to be cut along the building’s sides and windows were broken to give the thick smoke a means of escape.Just moments later, as things appeared to be under control, a ceiling collapse on the third floor sent a Peabody firefighter to a nearby hospital. Peabody Fire Chief Steven E. Pasdon said the collapse was probably caused by the weight of water. He could not, however, report on the firefighter’s condition.”Our crews did an amazing job,” said Pasdon. “We recognized we could extinguish (the fire) and we did.”Pasdon couldn’t comment on how much damage was done by this act of God, as he put it, but did estimate that the entire tier will suffer. He also said he could only assume that units to the right would experience minor damage, as well.Mayor Michael Bonfanti estimated that nearly 36 units could be affected.Building 3 is no stranger to fires. On March 8, 2007, a fire that started near a gas line destroyed two apartment units overlooking Route 128.The improper disposal of cigarettes along the property’s mulch-covered landscape ignited a natural gas line and started the second fire on May 29. The inferno made headlines as it destroyed the 26-unit apartment building, leaving hundreds without a home and killing several house pets.Dearborn resident Caleb Slavinsky, arrived home Wednesday just as firefighters were extinguishing the blaze and moments after a downpour dumped a deluge on the fire scene.”I truly believe that if we didn’t have that rain the fire would have spread across the building,” he said.Slavinsky said that since the May incident, Highlands management has capped fireplaces and removed mulch from around buildings as a fire prevention precaution. Despite those measures, he said, “people are on edge” in the wake of three fires.