PHOTO BY SCOTT EISEN
The scene of 2-alarm fire that took place in a second floor apartment at 333 Chatham St. in Lynn, Sunday.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — One woman was hospitalized and dozens of residents were left out in the cold for more than an hour after a two-alarm fire at a three-story brick apartment building on Chatham Street Sunday afternoon.
Lynn District Fire Chief Stephen Archer said the blaze, reported shortly after 12:30 p.m., was caused by a cooking fire that started in the kitchen of a second-floor apartment at the 34-unit complex at 333 Chatham St. Most of the damage was confined to that apartment and the woman resident was taken to Salem Hospital as a precaution. There were no other injuries.
Archer said the woman would not be allowed to return to her apartment on Sunday. Her apartment, along with the unit below, will need extensive repair, and those residents will be temporarily displaced, he said.
The district fire chief commended the work of responding crews, who extinguished the fire quickly, and were on scene for a little more than an hour.
While fire crews and other first responders worked, residents were left outside the apartment complex in cold temperatures. One elderly man was wrapped in a blanket outside the front door, huddled with his dog. Other residents were still wearing pajamas and slippers. Some were concerned for pets who remained in the building.
Building superintendent Harry Thomas said the blaze was in Apt. 24. He lives near the building and got a phone call that there was a fire. When he came outside, the fire trucks were already there. He said between the 34 units, there were at least 60 residents.
Thomas said there are many elderly residents. No one was prepared to come outside, so he was working to calm nerves.
“Right now, it’s just trying to keep everybody calm,” Thomas said about an hour after the blaze started. “That’s the main thing and just wait for the OK to come back in.”
Residents didn’t get the all clear to return to their apartments until past 2 p.m.
Fire officials said the woman came out of her smoke-filled apartment on her own, but residents painted a different picture. One resident, who didn’t want to be identified, said the fire department used an ax to knock down her glass sliding door. In the back of the building where the fire unit was located, the sliding door and a glass window were shattered.
The man said there was lots of black smoke and the woman didn’t want to come out of her apartment. He walked over and all he could see was pillars of smoke coming out.
Susan Corrigan, who lives on the first floor in an apartment below where the blaze began, said firefighters took the woman out by force.
Corrigan, who has lived in the building for more than a decade, said she left for about an hour and came back to the fire. She said her family was safe, but they were anxious to go back inside. She had a cat and dog in her apartment, but said firefighters checked on the animals and reported they were fine.
When she came upon the fire scene, Corrigan said she was thinking that she lost everything. But she was relieved that the fire didn’t go into her apartment, and that she still has a home.
Bill Thibodeau, 57, said he wasn’t at home when the fire began.
“My girl called and told me (there was a) fire in the building,” he said. “She was concerned about her cat.”
Thibodeau said the cat stayed in the apartment after residents evacuated, but was fine. He said there was no damage to his unit, which was on the other end of the building.
Fred Currier, 66, a Vietnam War veteran, said he has lived in the building for 43 years. He was home and heard the fire alarms go off. He said the building used to have a problem with alarms, but he hasn’t heard them for awhile since the new system was put in. He wasn’t concerned about being displaced. He said the first responder response was great, along with the landlords, who got on the scene quickly and kept residents informed.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.