LYNN — More than 30 people were left homeless and two people were injured after a two-alarm fire tore through an apartment building on Lafayette Park Friday afternoon.
The fire broke out at 8 Lafayette Park at approximately 1:50 p.m., with black smoke visible to drivers and pedestrians making their way down intersecting Broad Street.
While crews worked to knock down the fire, police blocked off traffic to Lafayette Park, which quickly became congested with civilians watching the blaze.
A firefighter was transported to the hospital with what Fire Chief Stephen Archer said was most likely heat exhaustion and a resident was also hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The injured resident had run back into the building to save his pet, Fire Capt. Joseph Zukas said.
Atlantic Ambulance was also on scene monitoring the firefighters, who were dealing with hot, humid conditions. All of the residents, 23 adults and 10 children, made it out of the 12-unit building safely, but the fire department found three dead cats and another one is still missing, Archer and Zukas said.
Residents were seen outside of the building covered in smoke and sut as they searched for their pets. One woman said she was only able to find two of her six cats. Her two dogs ran out of the building on their own, she said.
Betty Randazzo, a first-floor resident, said she didn’t smell the smoke but had heard someone banging on her door and screaming for everyone to get out.
“The fire affected a lot of families,” Randazzo said.
Randazzo’s daughter said she saw a cat jump out of the third-floor window where the fire started. The animal was given CPR, but it’s unclear if it survived. An air conditioner from that same unit caught fire and fell to the parking lot below, she said.
Her daughter said she heard her neighbor crying because she couldn’t find her pit bull.
According to Randazzo, the fire started in a unit in the back of the building on the third floor and was caused by an outlet that exploded.
“My neighbor said she was in her kitchen, then turned around and saw smoke coming from an outlet,” Randazzo said.
Randazzo emphasized the rough condition of the outlets in her first-floor unit as well. She said she has lived in the building for five years and has never seen the landlord conduct an inspection.
Randazzo also said the plumbing in the building is “horrible” and that it “rains” in her apartment sometimes. She and her daughter said based on the conditions of the building, a fire was bound to happen.
The fire was contained within 30 minutes, said Archer, who praised the firefighters on scene for doing a great job to knock it down quickly. He also commended the police for containing the scene, which drew many people, and Atlantic Ambulance.
“It’s a hot day today, and the guys are really taking some heat,” Archer said. “I can’t speak highly enough of how important it is to have an Atlantic Ambulance rehab unit here, especially in this kind of heat. You get overheated very, very quickly.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it appears to have been contained to its unit of origin, Archer said.
