Residents escape early-morning Nahant fire

NAHANT – Eleven people were left temporarily homeless by an early morning fire at a four-story apartment house at 93 Sherman Ave., but they were all able to safety escape the building.The quick response by the town’s full-time firefighters to the 4 a.m. fire, combined with the work of on-call firefighters and mutual aid help from several area departments, stopped the fire from spreading to nearby buildings, according to Capt. Dean Palombo.They were also aided by the wind blowing off the water, which helped prevent the fire from spreading, he said.The closest building is just eight feet away from the fire scene.”Everyone is asleep at four in the morning,” Palombo said Tuesday about the challenge of responding to an early-morning fire. “We were able to make the stop and our guys and the mutual aid did a hell of a job.”No one was seriously injured in the early-morning fire, but a firefighter suffered a minor laceration to his hand, Palombo said.Functioning smoke detectors woke up all the residents, despite the early-morning hour, Palombo said.”When we arrived, residents told me everyone was out the building,” he said.Most of the damage to the building was smoke damage and residents should be able to return to the apartment building at some point, Palombo said.”They’re going to have to have the building inspected by the building inspector,” Palombo said.Palombo said later Tuesday the fire started when someone left a lit cigarette on the second floor deck.Nahant firefighters struck a second alarm when they responded to the scene and saw smoke coming from the second floor, Palombo said.Firefighters from Lynn and Swampscott responded to the scene, and Marblehead, Lynnfield and Revere firefighters provided station coverage.Six of the eight full-time firefighters responded to the scene – only two were on duty – and eight call firefighters responded as well, Palombo said.”That’s an excellent turnout,” Palombo said of the response to the fire.He added that the Red Cross of Northeast Massachusetts responded to the scene to help the residents left temporarily homeless, but officials at the organization declined to comment, because they were still actively helping people.