DERRY — Instinct to save a man from a burning home kicked in Sunday night minutes after an explosion engulfed a residence at 607 Chases Grove Road.
Neighbor William Chase stood in the middle of the street Monday afternoon looking at what remained following the blast and the fire which ripped through the 784 square-foot manufactured home.
Around 7:40 p.m. on Sunday, Chase kicked down a side door and crawled into the home to pull out the occupant trapped inside with the aid of another neighbor who used her cellphone flashlight to try to draw the injured man closer to safety.
It took team work, Chase said, as a woman from a neighboring home first ran out of her house to help, then met Chase and the victim with a fire extinguisher once he was pulled to safety.
“The house was fully engulfed by the time we got him out of there,” Chase said.
The man, unidentified by authorities but known to Chase as “Ricky,” was transported to a local hospital on Sunday.
He was treated for serious injuries, potentially life-threatening wounds, according to a press release from the Derry Fire Department. There was no update on his condition.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Derry Battalion Chief Greg Laro.
Derry Fire had received multiple calls about an explosion and fire at the home.
Chase said he was outside five minutes before the blast. He was sitting on his couch inside his home across the street when he heard the loud explosion.
“It sounded like someone was outside lighting off fireworks,” he said.
Chase came outside to see some neighbors in the street and the front windows of the home on fire blown out. Chase said it appeared the fire may have started on the porch at the front of the house as there were some propane tanks in the vicinity.
He asked the neighbors if they knew if Ricky, the man residing at 607 Chases Grove Road, was still inside. Chase said he did not know the man’s last name, but that he’s been a longtime resident on the street.
“I tried to crawl in twice to get him,” Chase said.
He could only go in so far the first time, crawling on his stomach toward the bathroom where the man was because the smoke was so bad and he had a hard time breathing.
Chase said he continued to yell to the man, knowing the bathroom was straight across from the back door.
“I kept calling his name,” Chase said.
Chase went in a second time and was able to drag the occupant out the door and then lay him in the backyard of the adjacent property.
The man asked Chase if he could go back in for his cat, but Chase said the fire was too intense.
Derry Fire arrived on scene shortly after to find half the residence engulfed in flames and to learn the man had already been pulled to safety. At the same time that Derry’s Engine 2 responded, the department’s Engine 1 and Medic 1 were responding to another emergency call.
Firefighters from Derry and other communities fought the flames, while emergency personnel from the Salem and Londonderry fire departments treated the injured man and transported him to an area hospital, Battalion Fire Chief Ryan Bump said in a release.
Laro said the proximity of homes made firefighting efforts challenging as the home was in a congested area on the shores of Island Pond. Tanker trucks were also brought in because no hydrants were available in that area of town.
The New Hampshire Fire Marshal’s Office is assisting Derry Fire with the investigation due to the seriousness of the man’s injuries and complexity of the fire scene, Ryan said.
Mutual aid from 12 fire departments responded to the scene, including Salem, Londonderry, Hampstead, Plaistow, Atkinson, Windham, Hudson, Manchester, Nashua, Auburn and Chester. The Derry Fire Department also received assistance from the town Police Department and the Derry Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).