LYNN — A two-alarm fire tore through a home on Allerton Street Tuesday evening, collapsing the roof and displacing eight people, fire officials said.
At the scene, the scent of smoke hung thick in the air as firefighters attacked the blaze from a number of angles. Heavy smoke could be seen coming off the roof as crews hosed it down. At one point, a firefighter could be seen breaking through windows on the second floor, and later, flames could be seen shooting out of the heavily charred roof.
District Chief Michael McBride said firefighters responded to 44 Allerton St. around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The blaze began at the back of the first floor of the two-and-a-half story wood frame two-family home, he said.
“It went up the side and got up into the attic. When we got here the fire was in the attic, so we started to do the firefighting operations to put it out, and then obviously, it’s a pretty good fire. It had a pretty good hole in the building,” McBride said.
McBride said the blaze quickly burned through the vinyl siding on the home into the attic, where it came across to the front of the home.
“The upstairs was unfinished, there was really nothing up there so the fire had free rein to come through the roof,” he said.
By around 7:45 p.m., the blaze had been mostly contained, McBride said.
Charlie Mckenna can be reached at [email protected].
