LYNN — Retired Fire Captain Joe Carritte must have had a flashback to his former career last Wednesday; when a fire broke out, he kept his cool in the heat of the moment.
Carritte, 64, was reportedly leaving his house to go to his part-time job at the Lynn Fire Credit Union when he noticed smoke coming out of his neighbor’s window at 91 Maplewood Road.
Fire Capt. Joseph Zukas said the neighbor was trying to put out the fire that began on the stove and spread to the neighboring cabinets “to no avail.”
That’s when Carritte’s daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Smith — who works for the fire department as a fire alarm operator — handed him a garden hose, according to Zukas.
Zukas said Carritte then went into the house with the garden hose and put out the fire before it spread further.
“Joe did a great job,” Zukas said. “In tandem, they (Carritte and Smith) helped save the neighbor’s house.”
Zukas said the heat and smoke damage along with the burned cabinets may have caused $5,000 to $10,000 of damage, but he said the important part is that the house was saved.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Zukas said.
The fire department wasn’t notified immediately, because Zukas said the homeowner tried to put out the fire on their own, but Carritte told a family member to call the fire department while he went in to help his neighbor.
The fire was out when the department arrived, but Zukas said firefighters opened up the ceiling and used its thermal imaging camera to confirm that all of the fire was out.
“We just want to stress to people that it is OK to try to put a fire out, but call the fire department too,” Zukas said. “That way if we get there and we’re not needed, it’s OK, but we can avoid disastrous results that way.”
