HAVERHILL — Firefighters on Thursday morning ran about three-quarters of a mile of large diameter fire hose to battle a two-alarm fire that heavily damaged the rear extension of a home at 499 East Broadway. The home sits on a roughly 3.5-acre wooded lot in this rural area of the city where fire hydrants are spaced far apart.
The only person in the home at the time was a carpet installer, who was working in the main part of the home and called 911.
Fire Chief Robert O’Brien said his department was notified just before 9:30 a.m.
“As the hydrants in this area are spaced apart, it was a very labor intensive job getting water to the home,” he said in reference to the roughly 3,000 feet of hose that began at a hydrant in front of 419 East Broadway and ran north along East Broadway using several fire engines spaced apart to maintain water pressure.
They also laid down another 600 feet of hose that ran down the long driveway to an engine stationed in the home’s back yard.
“Our crews did a great job limiting the fire to the rear extension of the home and keeping it from spreading to the main house, which received some water and smoke damage but appears structurally sound,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said the home’s rear extension was heavily damaged and that city inspectors will determine whether or not it can be salvaged.
He said that having a four-man instead of a three-man crew at the High Street station helps tremendously in providing enough firefighters when responding to fires.
“You have to have the manpower to get things running or you could lose a house or worse,” he said. “When you see the labor it takes to get this large hose run down the street, it’s all labor intensive.”
O’Brien said he’s working with Mayor James Fiorentini to boost manning at the Water Street station as well.
Timothy Riley, who formerly operated Riley’s Corner convenience store in the city’s Mt. Washington neighborhood, said his daughter Erin Riley and her boyfriend Aidan O’Rourke bought the home about a month ago and were still settling in. He said both of them were at work at the time and they had their dog with them.
“This is devastating but fortunately no one was injured,” he said.
O’Brien said on Thursday afternoon that investigators with his department and state fire marshal’s office were still investigating the cause of the fire.