Lynn firefighters rushed to the second city fire in less than 24 hours Thursday morning when a 9 Sachem St. house was damaged by fire.
Emergency medical personnel treated resident Kimberly Johnson who was the only resident home when the fire ignited shortly before 10:30 a.m. Johnson fled her home but was underdressed for the weather and visibly distraught.
“I was on the phone downstairs when I heard a banging. I started to go upstairs and everything was black. I heard the crackling of flames and I couldn’t breathe,” Johnson said.
District Fire Chief Michael McBride credited firefighters’ response to success in confining the blaze to a second-floor room. He said Johnson had left her house by the time firefighters converged on the Sagamore Hill side street.
“Light smoke was showing when we got here. The crews did a great job,” McBride said.
Lynn firefighters assisted by crews from other communities worked into early Thursday morning at a Moulton and Boston streets fire scene after fire broke out in a home and spread to an adjacent house, triggering four alarms and leaving at least two dozen people homeless.
Johnson lives with her husband, who was not home when the fire started, and her cat. McBride said initial reports at the fire scene indicated the animal was safe. As she watched firefighters clear smoke from her home, Johnson agonized over her pet’s fate and recent work done to her home, including newly-installed solar panels.
“We tried so hard to fix the roof up,” she cried.
Neighbors including Seni Cercone crowded around Johnson as she sat on a stoop and tried to reassure her. Cercone has lived on the street most of her life and said Johnson and her husband have lived on Sachem more than 10 years. She said street residents will pitch in to help the family repair their house.
“We’re a neighborhood that sticks together,” Cercone said.
