SAUGUS — Firefighters battled a pair of simultaneous two-alarm fires roughly a mile apart on Saturday night that displaced more than a dozen people, according to the union representing the town’s fire department.
The department was called to 16 Denver St. at 8:54 p.m. Saturday for a report of smoke in the basement. It subsequently received a call for a house fire at 590 Lincoln Ave. just over half an hour later, at 9:27 p.m., the Saugus Firefighters Local 1003 wrote in a Facebook post. The call for the Lincoln Avenue fire came at almost the same moment that responding companies struck a second alarm while fighting the Denver Street blaze.
Firefighters arriving at Denver Street found a fuel-fed fire in the basement that was rapidly spreading up the walls of the home, striking a first and second alarm, the union said.
The Lincoln Avenue fire led to a “difficult situation for all involved,” as the department redirected mutual aid responding to Denver Street to Lincoln Avenue. Melrose Engine 3 was the first to arrive at that scene, calling for a working fire with heavy smoke showing on the second floor. The blaze went to a second alarm with mutual aid companies from Melrose, Malden, Lynn, Medford, Revere, Winthrop, and Chelsea fighting fire on all three floors of the home, the union said.
Malden, Stoneham, and Wakefield aided Saugus firefighters at the Denver Street scene, the union said.
No injuries were reported in either blaze. One infant was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation and two cats were rescued, the union said. More than a dozen people were displaced.
“Strong work by all involved and thank you to all our brothers and sisters from the surrounding cities and towns,” the Saugus Firefighters Local 1003 Facebook post reads. “Manpower matters.”
