Mass. Firefighter Injured Battling Three-Alarm Blaze

June 6, 2012
A Fitchburg firefighter received minor burns to his head when he was hit by a falling piece of ceiling after removing his helmet to fit a breathing device.

FITCHBURG, Mass. -- A three-alarm fire tore through the third and fourth floors of a tenement at 124 Daniels St. in the city's Cleghorn neighborhood Tuesday morning, injuring two residents and one firefighter, and displacing about 10 families.

Deputy Chief Kevin Curran said one woman jumped from the top floor to escape the flames.

One person was carried out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance as firefighters hosed down the building.

Curran said an off-duty firefighter who lives near the building helped pull a man from the building. Curran said that resident was injured, possibly from smoke inhalation.

A Fitchburg firefighter received minor burns to his head when he was hit by a falling piece of ceiling after removing his helmet to fit a breathing device. The firefighter, who was not named, continued to fight the fire afterward.

"I want to say [the injury] was minor, but it's not my head," said Curran. The cause of the fire is currently unknown.

"Fire in Fitchburg's Cleghorn neighborhood displacing about 10 families," Mayor Lisa Wong posted on Facebook. "All known residents accounted. One boy just turned 3 yesterday and lost everything."

Police blocked off Woodland and Daniels streets while firefighters knocked down the blaze.

Thick gray and black smoke billowed from the building and filled the sky over the scene.

Wong said donations to the families from the fire can be dropped off at the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center, 18 Fairmount St. Checks can be made out to the center with "fire" in the subject.

Crews from Leominster, Lunenburg and Westminster assisted the Fitchburg Fire Department in the emergency effort.

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