ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Saugus firefighters inspect the damage caused by a fire on Midland Avenue in Saugus on Wednesday.
SAUGUS — Neighbors rescued an elderly Midland Avenue man from his burning home early Wednesday evening.
David Horvath and Larry Applegate said they were driven back by heavy smoke several times shortly before 5 p.m. before they were able to lift Arthur Anderson from just inside the doorway of his home and carry him to a nearby lawn where neighbors wrapped him in blankets.
“It was hard to breathe but I couldn’t give up,” Applegate said.
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Emergency medical personnel transported Anderson, who was described by neighbors as being in his 80s, to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. Deputy Fire Chief Donald Shea said Anderson was conscious as medical personnel treated him.
Firefighters responded to Midland Avenue. at 4:23 p.m. to find the small single-family house engulfed in flames.
Horvath was driving up the street when he saw flames “shooting out the back” of Anderson’s home. Applegate kicked open Anderson’s door and spotted him on the floor.
The two neighbors attempted to lift and pull Anderson away from the house but heavy smoke drove the pair back “four or five times,” Horvath said. Applegate said the open front door partly at one point blocked their efforts to battle smoke and pull Anderson to safety.
“By the time I got him out, the house was in flames,” Applegate said.
Eddie Marshall described Anderson as a close friend and said Anderson has lived for years at the end of one of the narrow, hilly streets crisscrossing between Lincoln Avenue and Winter Street. Shea praised neighbors for their quick response and credited firefighters with quickly extinguishing the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.