Fire leaves 20 homeless

LYNN – High winds Wednesday prompted fire commanders to quickly strike three alarms on a Henry Avenue fire that left 20 residents, who were assisted to safety by police officers, homeless.Multiple emergency calls sent firefighters and police officers, including Officer Benjamin Chez, to 49 Henry Ave., a six-family building located a block off Washington Street, at 7:15 a.m. Lt. Richard Donnelly said Chez ran through heavy smoke into the building and “began evacuating tenants on the first and second floors.”Joined by Officer David Hunter, Chez tried to climb to the building’s third floor, but Donnelly said heavy smoke repelled the pair. Responding firefighters saw fire spread from the second floor on the building’s Washington Street side to the third floor.District Fire Chief John Barry sounded a second alarm at 7:21 a.m. and a third alarm at 7:29 a.m. Wind, said Fire Chief James McDonald, was a top concern for firefighters battling the blaze.”We got a lot of people on scene quickly,” McDonald said.Initial counts indicated nine adults and a child live in the building. The American Red Cross on Wednesday afternoon stated 16 adults and four children are building residents.”Everyone was out when we arrived,” Barry said.A building resident, who also alerted neighbors to the fire by banging on their doors, was treated at the scene and refused transport to a hospital, said District Chief Steven Archer.Barry said the fire started on the second floor and fire investigators were inspecting the damaged building Wednesday morning to determine its cause.Kessner Pierre, 60, lived with his wife and 3-year-old daughter in a second-floor apartment. He was taking a shower before going to work when his wife alerted him to someone pounding on their door.The family fled, along with other tenants, to a nearby laundromat, where the owner offered shelter against Wednesday’s cold, biting wind. Kesner and his wife fled with the clothes on their back and no clothes for their daughter. Someone in the laundromat gave the child a pair of pajamas.”I just have a jacket,” Pierre said.First-floor resident Juan Francisco fled his apartment after someone knocked on his door.”Someone knocked on the door and said there was a fire in the house,” he said.Barry declared the fire out at 7:56 a.m. as Kesner and other tenants waited to receive Red Cross help.Red Cross Communications Director Kat Powers said one family living in the building found shelter Wednesday with family and friends, and the Red Cross assisted five other families with finding emergency shelter, food and clothing. One family needed winter coats, Powers stated.”Among the items the Red Cross provided were stuffed animals from our friends at Disney to all four children,” Powers said.City records list the building’s owner as James Asemota of Lynn. City Chief Inspector Roger Ennis said inspectors have responded in the last several years to “typical generic complaints” concerning the building.