Protect the exposure

The crew of the Tewksbury Fire Department’s Engine 3 was sent to 1005 Livingston Street today at 2:13 p.m., for a report of a barn fire.

Lt. Dave Carney and firefighters Robert Little and Oscar Forero arrived to find the barn fully engulfed.

Just 25 to 30 feet away from the burning barn were new condominiums. The vinal siding on those condos was already melted from the heat of the flames.

So, knowing they had a limited amount of water in their engine, where did Carney, Little and Forero aim their hoses?

At the condos, and the move drew praise from a superior officer who said a thermal imaging camera would later show the condos were about to catch fire when Engine 3 arrived and intervened. The barn was a lost cost anyway since it was already fully engulfed.

“It was a good save by Engine 3,” said Capt. Jim Bruce. “When you see that kind of fire your first idea is to put water on the barn, but training says you only have so much water, and if they didn’t immediately put water on the condos they would have caught fire.”

Weird, rainy Sunday

I’m listening closely to see if Lowell Police make any arrests in connection with this morning’s stabbing, but otherwise I have no major incidents to report. Messy weather has a tendency to keep a bit of a lid on crime.

In Tyngsboro, police have closed part of Lakeview Avenue since a tree limb brought down a power line. National Grid is reporting on its website that 287 buildings in Tyngsboro are without power.

Not sure, but the falling branch may have been caused by the heavy rains that have the National Weather Service website announcing that we’re in a moderate to severe drought, and currently under a flood watch.

I bet this particular set of circumstances doesn’t arise all that often.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Benjamin Sipprell tells me the heavy rains could cause flooding in urban areas and poor drainage areas, since 2 or 3 inches of rain could fall in a fairly short amount of time. Drivers should watch out on the morning commute.

Saturday night trash fire

This wouldn’t be news if it hadn’t happened behind my office and made for a good video, but here’s some footage of Lowell Firefighter Mike Dillon and Lt. Kevin McCauley knocking down a fire in a trash container at Suffolk and Fletcher streets tonight about 11:30 p.m.

No word on what caused this. Officer Luis Rios spotted it and called firefighters to the scene. Rios was talking to neighbors when I left. Fires in trash containers don’t exactly start due to natural causes, though.

Forty-three seconds or four minutes

I was off work yesterday when I heard about a three-alarm fire at 19-21 Willow Street in Lowell. Minutes later, as the blaze became a five-alarm fire, I could see and smell the smoke even though I live a mile away on Bridge Street.

It was a tough day to be off work.

Tonight, as soon as I started my shift, I started helping my esteemed colleague Jennifer Myers track down rumors that Engine 4, stationed at 198 High Street, near the fire, was out of service when the blaze began.

The rumors were true.

Here’s a photo taken by Kelsie Lei, of Lowell, sent via Facebook.

Fire Chief Edward Pitta confirmed tonight for Ms. Myers that both Engine 4, which is stationed two-tenths of a mile from the fire scene, and Ladder 3, which is stationed downtown, were out of service when the fire began.

Sixteen people were helped

That’s an unofficial tally that I put together on my own, but the fire department made at least a dozen rescues during Easter morning’s fire at 333 First Street Boulevard, and I got a tip tonight that police officers helped four other people out of the building.

Here is the story Joyce Tsai and I did on the fire for Monday’s paper. Anyone effected by this fire should go to the Lowell Senior Center, on Tuesday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts will be on hand again to provide assistance to residents.

Residents who can’t make it to the Senior Center should call 800-564-1234.

By Robert Mills
rmills@lowellsun.com
LOWELL — Police Officer Matthew McCabe was still blocks away on Christian Street when he saw flames shooting up the side of the Walkway Condominiums on First Street Boulevard early Sunday morning.
McCabe arrived at the fire moments later and was told people were still inside, according to a police report. The bulk of the fire was right next to the building’s main entrance.
In the minutes that followed, firefighters used ladders to rescue a dozen people trapped on balconies, while McCabe, Officer Paul Paradise and Sgt. Matthew Penrose helped four people get out of the smoke-filled building.
An unofficial tally based on reports from the fire show that at least 16 people were rescued from the flames by firefighters and police.
McCabe immediately saw several people trapped on a balcony, according to a police report. The crew of Ladder 4, Lt. Frank Kelly and firefighters Oscar Torres and George Rowe rescued those people with a ladder.
McCabe went into a side door of the building with Sgt. Matthew Penrose and Officer Paul Paradise, and heard a woman screaming in a second-floor hallway. Smoke was so thick police couldn’t see the woman until they were about two feet away from her. She was having difficulty breathing.
The woman was with an elderly man who was walking with a cane. Penrose lifted the man over his shoulder and carried him to a stairwell while Paradise and Penrose led the woman to safety.
Then all three went back inside and located two women in the hallway, including one who was in a wheelchair, according to a police report. Penrose and McCabe carried the woman — wheelchair and all — to safety. Paradise continued knocking on doors despite thick smoke.
Meanwhile, Deputy Fire Chief John Dowling said Kelly, Torres and Rowe rescued a family of four — two adults and two children — from a third-floor balcony at the front of the building, and two more people from a second floor balcony.
A short time later, Dowling said, crews of Ladder 4, Ladder 3 and Ladder 2 rescued six more people from balconies in the back of the building. All while crews from engine companies battled flames that were shooting through three stories of the building.
“The ladder companies did a great job and the first engine company put a line on the fire and knocked it down,” Dowling said.
Thick smoke prevented McCabe, Penrose or Paradise from continuing to go through the building, but Dowling said the crew of the city’s rescue truck went door to door through the 36-unit apartment building to make sure no one else was inside.
“They did a great job going inside in high heat and heavy smoke and going apartment to apartment,” Dowling said. “It’s a 36-unit apartment building and I think we had them checked pretty quick.”
No one was seriously injured in the fire.

As a resident of Lowell, I’d like to say thanks to Kelly, Torres, Rowe, Penrose, McCabe, Paradise, and all the firefighters at this fire who I didn’t get a chance to name.