LYNN — Four houses were badly burned because of a two-alarm fire that happened Sunday afternoon at 41 Bulfinch St.
A resident of one of the houses, 35 Bulfinch St., that was burned, Jorge Robles, recalled coming home from work and seeing his house ablaze.
“My wife called me and she said, ‘Our house is on fire!’” He said he rushed home to see more than 20 cars lining the street in front of his home and that it was hard to find a space to pull over to see his home.
Once he reached the front door, Robles said he saw his brother yelling upstairs to the multi-family home, “Everybody get out of the house, it’s on fire.”
While sitting in his kitchen watching the Action Emergency management team replace the windows in his house, he said the smell of smoke is still unbearable after more than 24 hours since the fire broke out.
Robles said he has been suffering from headaches because of the lingering smell of the smoke.
Jim Harkins, a neighbor to all of the houses that were affected by the fire, said his son Jason Harkins and his nephew, Paul LaRocque, took action when they saw the fire ablaze.
“Jason said that looks like too much smoke,” Harkins said. They sprang into action, and when they got in front of the house, they witnessed people screaming for help through the second-story window.
“My son and my nephew pulled 10 people out of the windows before the fire department arrived,” Harkins said.
One person suffered injuries, including a burn to the face, but the other nine people evacuated the house without needing emergency medical assistance.
Harkins said his son and his nephew each pulled out 5 people from two windows of the house.
He added that after the ten people were evacuated, Jason went into the houses adjacent to the back of the property “banging on the doors, ringing the doorbell, trying to get people out of the house.”
“They got everyone out of the house and had to leave because it was too hot,” but not before rescuing the family dog and cat, Linda Harkins said, wife of Jim Harkins and mother to Jason.
“Then we heard explosions, and it was the tires of the cars in the driveway that were blowing up,” Linda Harkins said.
“I have never seen anything go up in flames so fast,” she added.
Linda Harkin’s sister, Kathy Fuller, was also there to help evacuate people from the surrounding houses amid the blaze. She said Fuller had no hair left on her arms because of the heat from the flames.
Action Management Emergency services worked overnight after the blaze was contained to secure the surrounding properties, according to a worker, Aram Smith.
Supervisor Julian Smith said they have to work overnight outside of the houses until the houses are secured because “somebody could go in and get hurt.”
Action Emergency Management Services boarded up widows, replaced windows, secured siding, and helped clean up the property.
