A fire at a Peabody multifamily residential building on Central Street left dozens of people without a home. Everyone was evacuated without injuries and all pets were accounted for.
A call at 12:05 AM Thursday alerted authorities of a fire in a second floor apartment and an engine was at the scene minutes later according to Fire Chief Jay Dowling. An interior attack was started then quickly ordered to stop when it was discovered that the entire back of the building was on fire.
After a period of fighting the blaze, an attempt to enter the building was quickly thwarted when firefighters were met with collapsed floors and ceilings. “Once it got into the walls, it got right into the roof and right into the attic,” Dowling said. “From 12:07 a.m. to 4 a.m., we were dumping water on it.”
In addition to getting all residents evacuated quickly and safely, firefighters were able to make sure all pets were with their families, rescuing a cat that was missing inside the burning building.
The city is working with the Red Cross to help the 34 residents that are now left with a house. “We have all residents inside the Knights of Columbus next door. We thank them a lot for using their facilities for now,” Dowling commented.
Peabody PD assisted firefighters Thursday night and into the morning with a perimeter around the scene to give them space for keeping the blaze in control, Police Chief Thomas Griffin said. Throughout the day, officials from the Peabody fire and police department along with a trooper from the state fire marshal’s office worked their way through the ashes and rubble to determine what caused the flame.
Griffin noted that the investigation could take awhile: “Unless someone comes up and says ‘I had food on the stove’ or something like that, you really have to do an in depth investigation to move through a whole bunch of different potential causes.”
For now, the 34 residents of the complex that once held six units are left with heavy questions about what lies ahead. The Red Cross seeks to help with some of those questions, especially the most immediate needs of everyone affected. “Do people need blankets, do they need food or water?’, our responders tend to bring that stuff with them. So if someone needs a blanket or a stuffed animal, we can provide it right there on the spot”, Kelly Isenor, the Director of Communications at Red Cross Massachusetts told us.
“Where we fill in is just talking to the client and making sure they have what they need…every client is different,” Isenor said. The Red Cross will then work with each client for however long it will take for them to get back on their feet and recover from this tragedy.
While the blaze left the three-story apartment complex a blackened, hollowed out facade, the dozens of residents can at least take solace in the fact that everyone escaped uninjured. It’s a testament to their preparedness that, according to Fire Chief Dowling, everyone had evacuated by the time firefighters were knocking on doors. Functioning smoke alarms undoubtedly played a vital role in saving the 34 residents inside the building.
“Smoke alarms save lives, that’s my word to everybody I meet. Check your batteries… It’s worth doing it twice a year”, Isenor said. She further emphasized the importance of having a plan for when disaster strikes and the clock starts ticking for how long you have to find safety: “ I don’t know if everyone knows this, but you have two minutes, and that’s from the time the fire starts… It’s not the time to figure out what you’re going to do, it’s the time to be like ‘OK we practiced this, let’s go.”
In a country where home fires have killed almost 2,000 people so far this year, education is the most effective method for preventing tragedy. To that end, the Red Cross’ Home Fire Campaign aims to encourage an urgency within the populace to become informed and materially prepared for when the unthinkable happens. Part of this campaign is installing smoke alarms free of charge in communities around the state. Isenor said they take this opportunity to go over the emergency plan for a resident’s house and to find a second exit in the event of a fire.
To learn more about the Home Fire Campaign and how you can prepare yourself and those around you on fire preparedness, visit the Red Cross website to view an assortment of resources on home fire safety. Isenor and those leading this campaign hope that through education and preparedness, tragedies become manageable and hopefully preventable.
For the families now left to pick up the pieces left by the fire, community support has been essential and overwhelming. In fact, the Peabody Health Department has to release a statement Tuesday to tell kind donors not to give anymore clothes as the “tremendous volume” has maxed out their capacity.
Those who still want to give can send donations of money or gift cards to the City Treasurer, but the most critical need is housing. The city has subsequently requested that any property owners with vacant units reach out to sgrinnell@peabodypolice.org. With the help of a caring community, these Peabody citizens will hopefully recover what was lost in the blaze in no time.
