MELROSE — An elderly woman was taken to Mass. General Hospital Monday night, March 23, after firefighters rescued her from a burning apartment in the Levi-Gould complex at 200 West Foster St.
Six other residents of the sixth floor of the six-story, 104-unit facility were taken to the lobby and to safety as smoke filled the hallway around 9:15 p.m.
According to fire officials, they did not receive one call reporting a fire at the Levi-Gould. Luckily, however, the city requires that large residential buildings like the Levi-Gould have their alarm systems wired directly to fire headquarters.
The alarm system activated in the main fire station at 9:13 p.m. Monday. Crews on the ladder truck as well as on Engines 2 and 3 rushed to the scene. When they arrived, fire officials said smoke was visible coming from the rear of the building. Making their way to the sixth floor, firefighters encountered “banking” smoke in the hallway, which allowed them to soon find the apartment where the smoke was coming from.
Inside that unit, which is in the west wing of the building, they found a semi-conscious woman in her 70’s in serious condition. She was carried by members of the ladder truck crew to the ground floor lobby. Paramedics with Cataldo Ambulance took her to Mass. General Hospital.
Also inside the apartment, the kitchen cabinets were on fire, as were other items in the kitchen. The Engine 3 crew hooked up a water line to the Levi-Gould’s standpipe, a pre-piped waterway leading to all floors. The crew then came to help Engine 2’s firefighters put out the flames.
While residents of the sixth floor were taken to the lobby, no residents had to be evacuated from the building.
The fire cause between $50,000 and $60,000 in damage.
It wasn’t clear earlier this week whether the resident had been cooking food and had fallen asleep or had been injured while cooking. She did suffer some burns, fire officials explained.
They added that nationally, about 80 percent of all residential fires now are caused by cooking accidents. In the past, many fires were caused by the careless disposal of smoking materials.
Local firefighters were back in their quarters around 11:35 p.m. Monday.
