Family of five safe following Lynn blaze

LYNN – Four family members escaped safely from a Friday morning fire in an Apple Street home and fire investigators are working to determine the cause.Emergency medical workers at the scene treated an adult male resident of 43 Apple St. in Lynn “as a precaution,” said District Fire Chief Stephen Archer, because the man is asthmatic.Fire Chief James McDonald said the fire appeared to have started on the outside of the single-family house near the attached garage before it spread to a porch and then up the front of the home as the residents fled the flames.?By the time they got out, the fire had extended to the second floor,” McDonald said.McDonald said the Fire Department received multiple calls at 9:59 a.m. reporting the fire, and Engine 1, 5 and 7 and Ladder 1, 2 and 4 firefighters commanded by District Chief Arthur Richard converged on the house at the corner of Apple Street and Allen Avenue.Resident Bernice Sallop was driving her school bus route and rushed home when she heard her home where she lives with her husband, son and two grandchildren was in flames. Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy came to the fire scene and comforted one of Sallop?s male relatives.?I asked him if he had some place to stay and if they needed further assistance. We are here to help,” Kennedy said.The mayor said Sallop and her family plan to stay with relatives. She credited firefighters with responding quickly to the fire.Fire investigator Donald Baron said initial reports indicate one of 43 Apple?s male residents looked out a second-floor window and saw smoke. He went downstairs, opened a cellar door and saw, according to Baron, “a wall of flame.”Baron said investigators were told a red gasoline container was spotted where the fire started. He said firefighters noticed “a heavy odor of gas” at the fire scene.Sallop said she has lived in 43 Apple St. since 1981, and neighbor Wayne Johnson described Sallop and her family as long-time residents along Allen Avenue, a steep street climbing off Chestnut Street into the Highlands.Johnson spotted the fire as he turned onto Allen Friday morning.?I turned the corner and saw the flames. I feel bad,” he said.