SAUGUS — A three-alarm blaze tore through a home on Juniper Drive Tuesday, sending one firefighter to the hospital.
Saugus Fire Chief Michael Newbury said he was the first on scene along with two police officers around noon. The single-family home was unoccupied when he arrived.
“When I got up there it went to a second and then a third alarm,” said Newbury. “When we initially went in we did an interior attack. The roof became unstable and began to collapse, so I pulled everyone out.”
Firefighters from Saugus, Malden, Lynn, Revere, Melrose, Wakefield and the Massachusetts Port Authority then attacked the fire from the outside using ladder trucks.
One Saugus firefighter was taken to an area hospital for heat exhaustion.
The fire appears to have started in the rear of the home, but the cause remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal, said Newbury.
The 81 Juniper Drive home was built in 1997 and is valued at about $627,000, according to Patriot Properties. Newbury called it a total loss.
