LYNN — A fire on Red Rock Street drove two families out of their home Tuesday evening.
The fire broke out just after 5 p.m. at 12 Red Rock St. District Fire Chief Joseph Zukas said flames started on the front porch and spread inside the building, melting the neighboring house’s vinyl siding.
At one point, Zukas said an electrical line melted and fell onto Fire Engine 5, forcing firefighters to exit the truck through one door to avoid being electrocuted.
Firefighters knocked down the fire by 5:30 p.m. One firefighter was transported to Salem Hospital for heat exhaustion.
“The guys knocked it down very aggressively despite dangerous circumstances,” Zukas said. “There were sparking wires on top of the truck, putting them in a very precarious situation.”
Zukas added that one fire hydrant was not working properly at the time, but that it did not hinder the firefighters as they were able to use another working hydrant down the street.
Jose Morales, 43, lives with his family on the top two stories of the three-story home. He said he works as a truck driver, with long shifts forcing him to wake up in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. After work, he picks up his kids, feeds them, and settles in for a nap.
He said his son alerted him to the blaze after their downstairs neighbor, 41-year-old Luis Sanchez, came running to notify them of the flames.
Sanchez said he was the only member of his family home at the time. His wife, who was on her way back home after doing laundry, saw the fire and called him just after 5 p.m. to alert him. He said he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary before then.
At the scene Tuesday, Morales pointed to a busted-out window on the third floor of the home and said “that’s where I sleep.”
“The house is how we bought it,” he said. “No A/C working, nothing at all.”
Three ladder trucks and at least three engines responded to the fire. Firefighters doused the home with water and broke windows on the top story. At one point, flames could be seen coming out of the side of the building.
Lynn Fire Chief Dan Sullivan said the work of the responding companies was “truly appreciated.”
“I trust the incident commander, who was in charge of the incident, and the firefighters who helped extinguish the fire,” Sullivan said.
