Furniture delivery truck hits wires, causes house fire in Saugus

SAUGUS – An Evergreen Street family got more than they bargained for when a local company delivered new furniture but left behind a fire.Fire Chief James Blanchard said a delivery truck from Bernie and Phyl’s Furniture dropped off furniture late Wednesday but as the truck was leaving it caught the power line to the home, pulling the service connection from the building. Blanchard said the downed wire caused the power to be back fed into the house, which resulted in an electrical fire.”It tore the ground (wire) off the house and it was laying in the street,” he said. “That power then looks for somewhere to go. It’ll jump anywhere, it’ll burn up a cable wire and it ran right back into the house.”Blanchard said when firefighters arrived things got even more tense because homeowners were watching as smoke poured from the house but the company was on standby.”We couldn’t do anything until we could get the power company to cut the power,” he said. “There were some anxious moments, the people that own the home are seeing the smoke and we’re just standing there.”Blanchard said he didn’t think the damage was extensive enough to keep the homeowners out but the electrical inspector would make the final call. He also said there seemed to be a tussle between the homeowner and the truck driver as to who was at fault.”He said the wire was too low,” Blanchard said. “I do see a little irony here.”