LYNN — Seven people were left homeless after a three-alarm fire ripped through a triple-decker home on Burrill Avenue Thursday afternoon.
There were no reported injuries to firefighters or residents. Four adults and three children were able to get out of the home before crews arrived, but a kitten is still missing, Lynn Fire Capt. Joseph Zukas said.
The fire appears to have started at the rear of the building, 84 Burrill Ave., around 3:30 p.m., with early reports indicating that the back porches of the second and third floors caught fire.
“There was severe damage to all three floors,” said Zukas. “The third floor is definitely not livable. More than likely, no one is living there tonight.”
Before the chaos from the fire, it was a relatively quiet day in the residential East Lynn neighborhood. Located near Kiley Playground and just blocks from Lynn Shore Drive, several people reported they were out for a walk or driving home from the beach when they saw the flames.
One third-floor resident of the home, Tanya Melanson, 47, said she was sleeping when the fire broke out and woke up to a man screaming for her to get outside.
Melanson credits that man, who works around the corner at Leahy Landscaping, with saving her life.
“I woke up to someone screaming fire,” said Melanson. “A guy from Leahy Landscaping was banging on my door — he said ‘get out of the house. There’s a fire.’ He came upstairs and he got us all out. He saved my life.”
Melanson was able to get out with her daughter and her dog, but through tears, she said her two cats were still inside the home. One of those cats was her new kitten, according to a family member of Melanson who was on scene.
Melanson said she’s lived in the home for four years — she owns the third floor and was planning to sell the unit. Now, she’s left searching for a place to live.
“I think it’s really said,” said Katie Brown, who works in accounting at Leahy Landscaping. “We were thinking everyone is probably home because of the quarantine. Now, they have nowhere to live. Everybody’s supposed to be home and now they’re homeless.”
Brown said a couple of men who work at Leahy, located on Sanderson Avenue, were trying to get people out of the home before firefighters arrived.
Employees noticed flames and rushed over to help, Brown said. Their concern was not only alerting residents of 84, but getting people out of the house next door, in case the fire spread, she said.
Everyone was calling 911 and within minutes, Lynn firefighters arrived, Brown said.
The heavy fire drew not only a response from Lynn, but departments from Revere and Malden and all surrounding towns were also on scene, Zukas said.
Karen, a Salem resident who asked to be identified by only her first name, said she was driving by after leaving the beach when she saw smoke and then flames on the third floor of the building.
“Those poor people,” she said. “(As if) people don’t have enough on their plate. Now they have to deal with this.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
