Westborough firefighters were able to rescue two people from the roof of a burning building in the Massachusetts town early Sunday morning, Fire Chief Patrick Purcell said that around 1:55 a.m. his department was called to 22-26 South St., a mixed place. -building for residential use which houses businesses on the ground floor and apartments above. Firefighters encountered heavy flames at the rear of the building, as well as two people trapped on the roof while trying to escape the fire. The people on the roof were a longtime resident of the building and his girlfriend. “The alarms went off. We ran around the apartment to see what was happening. We opened the door to the stairs to go out, smoke was coming up,” the resident said. “We had a split second to know what to do.” Westborough firefighters rescued the man and his girlfriend with ground ladders before launching an aggressive attack on the fire, which was brought under control around 2:40 a.m. Purcell said those rescued were suffering from severe slight smoke inhalation and refused medical attention. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire. before they got hurt,” Purcell said. “At first we got calls that someone was missing. We had to do primary research on the upper floors and it came back negative. And once the search was over, the person returned home after a night out.” Suffered about $1 million in damage as a result of the fire. Purcell said a Thai restaurant and an unoccupied storefront had were badly damaged Video from the scene shows a work van parked at the rear of the building which was also badly damaged by the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Westborough firefighters successfully rescued two people from the roof of a burning building in the Massachusetts town early Sunday morning.
Fire Chief Patrick Purcell said that around 1:55 a.m. his department was called to 22-26 South St., a mixed-use building that has retail on the ground floor and apartments above.
Firefighters encountered heavy flames at the rear of the building, as well as two people trapped on the roof while trying to escape the fire.
The people on the roof were a longtime resident of the building and his girlfriend.
“The alarms went off. We ran around the apartment to see what was happening. We opened the door to the stairs to go out, smoke was coming up,” the resident said. “We had a split second to know what to do.”
Westborough firefighters rescued the man and his girlfriend with ground ladders before launching an aggressive attack on the fire, which was brought under control around 2:40 a.m.
Purcell said those rescued suffered from mild smoke inhalation and refused medical treatment.
No injuries were reported following the fire.
“We’re fortunate that our fire station is in this downtown area and we were able to put up ladders and pull them over before they got hurt,” Purcell said. “At first we received calls that a person was missing. We had to do primary searches on the upper floors and it came back negative. And once the searches were completed, the person returned home after an evening.”
The South Street building suffered approximately $1 million in damage as a result of the fire. Purcell said a Thai restaurant and an unoccupied storefront were severely damaged.
Video from the scene shows a work van parked at the rear of the building that was also badly damaged by the fire.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.