Lynn fire leaves family of four homeless

LYNN – A Pine Hill resident said the smoke detector he installed in his dining room two weeks ago saved his family Thursday night when their Ontario Street home caught fire.Kurt Corman, his wife and two young daughters escaped the fire unharmed, but a firefighter sustained a shoulder injury when he fell into the home?s cellar.Corman said he heard the detector beeping and went downstairs to find 48 Ontario?s kitchen “engulfed in flames.” Corman woke up his wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 3, and the family struggled through thick smoke to escape the fire.?By the time we got to the front door, we couldn?t see a thing,” he said.The fire was one of two on Pine Hill in the last two days. Firefighters converged on 151 Woodlawn St. Friday afternoon to extinguish a basement fire.Fire Investigator Donald Baron said the Ontario Street fire?s cause is “undetermined” and said the two-and-a-half story single-family home at the edge of Gallagher Park is uninhabitable. American Red Cross volunteers found a hotel for the Corman family to stay in and provided the family with additional emergency assistance, according to Red Cross communications director Kat Powers.Corman said the family?s German Shepherd puppy, Jema, died in the fire.?She ran right by me but I couldn?t get her,” Corman said.District Fire Chief Stephen Archer said Lt. Sean Martin was taken to Salem Hospital by emergency medical workers. Archer said the cellar did not have stairs leading down to it.Archer said firefighters converged on 48 Ontario at 11:37 p.m. and crews put the fire out by 1:56 a.m.?It quickly ran up into the attic area and there was smoke and water damage throughout the house,” Archer said.He said two fire crews returned to the house early Friday morning to extinguish “hot spots” and make sure the fire did not ignite again. Corman said he bought the house last September.?This is our first house. It?s horrible,” he said.Firefighters responded to the Woodlawn Street fire at 1:47 p.m. Friday as the family of retired Firefighter William Mulcahy, who died last Sunday, prepared to leave for the single-family home for his memorial service.Fire Chief James McDonald said combustible material stored too near “an ignition source” may have started the fire.?It spread into the walls on the first floor,” McDonald said.