Published April 24, 2020
FIREFIGHTERS around the area battled flames for several hours Tuesday at this two-family home at 62 Willow St. (Photo courtesy of the Melrose Fire Department)
MELROSE — Inside the two-family home at 62 Willow St. late Tuesday morning, residents were in the midst of self-quarantining because of the coronavirus.
Outside, their house was on fire.
A two-alarm blaze was beginning to pick up some serious wind-stoked steam when the residents were told by off-duty Everett Deputy Fire Chief Joe Hickey to get out. Hickey, who had been shopping at the nearby Shaw’s supermarket on Essex Street, saw fire and was banging on the front door, alerting the residents that flames were starting to show from the second floor.
All Melrose companies responded after getting the call for a house fire at 11:31 a.m. Chief Ed Collina got there ahead of the two engines, the ladder truck and the rescue crew, and reported a heavy fire condition on the north side of the house. The wind wasn’t making things any better, as the flames from 62 Willow St. were beginning to impinge on the large three-story wood frame house next door.
The crew on Engine 2 arrived quickly, with Capt. Peter Grant and Firefighter Bill Stare advancing a 2 1/2-inch attack line down the 12-foot space separating the two houses. Flames were coming out of a couple of second story windows at 62 Willow like they were shooting from “a blow torch,” Collina explained. Grant and Stare put some water on the outside of the neighboring house to cool it down, then trained the line on the fire at 62 Willow, darkening it down.
Ladder 2 under the command of Capt. Paul Collina went inside 62 Willow Street to look for people. The first floor search didn’t turn up anyone, so the crew began to go upstairs, but had to stop before the landing because the area was getting too hot from the fire above. Engine 3’s crew dropped a supply line and the fire fight then transitioned from outside the house to inside it.
A second alarm was struck at 11:37 a.m. and brought Stoneham Engine 2, Wakefield Engine 2, Malden Engine 2, Saugus Engine 1 and a Malden ladder company to the scene. Eventually a Revere engine and an Everett ladder crew came too.
It took about an hour for firefighters to get flames under control. In doing so, one Melrose firefighter and one from Stoneham were treated for exhaustion outside the house, but neither needed to go to the hospital.
“You have to aggressively throw (manpower) at a fire like this,” Collina said. “Had it gone to another house — and it stood a pretty good chance of doing that — we would have been ready.”
Several hours of extensive overhauling were performed as firefighters dug inside walls and ceilings looking for hidden pockets of fire.
The two occupants on the first floor and the one on the second floor all got out safely.
Officials estimate the damage at over $200,000. The fire is believed to have begun on a second floor deck.
“This was an aggressive attack, a quick blitz as the men transitioned from the exterior of the house to the interior. And our mutual aid partners performed awesomely. Everything went flawlessly,” Chief Collina explained.
