April 26--ESSEX -- A firefighter who fell off a ladder suffered non-life threatening injuries while battling a blaze that gutted a 100-year-old home.
The fire at 10 Cogswell Court started around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
"I saw it on the porch and called 911 right away," neighbor Dave Warner said.
Homeowners John and Kimberly Drake escaped the home without injury.
"I don't know what happened, we were sleeping." Those were the only words Kimberly Drake said as she tearfully walked around her house, a single-family 2-bedroom home of approximately 1,429 square feet. It was built in 1870.
The firefighter fell off the ladder of a ladder truck extended to the roof of the 2-bedroom, wooden-frame house, hit the porch roof and fell to the ground, according to Bruce Toby of 5 Cogswell Court.
The firefighter was taken by advanced life support to Beverly Hospital, where a medflight was waiting to take him to Boston.
According to Essex Fire Chief Daniel Doucette, the firefighter was stable at the scene, and was already doing better while in the ambulance.
Toby's mother-in-law, Mary Muise, said the house was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived.
"The whole front of the porch was on fire," she said.
As of midnight Friday, the fire marshal had not yet arrived and the cause had not been determined, but Doucette said it appeared the fire started outside in or around the porch and moved into the house. He said there was extensive damage to the home, and much of the exterior had been noticeably charred by the flames.
At scene were firefighters from Essex, Manchester, Hamilton, Wenham and Gloucester. Ipswich firefighters provided coverage at the Essex station.
We will update this story here at gloucestertimes.com as more information becomes available. For full coverage, look to the print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.
James Niedzinski can be reached at 978-675-2708 or at [email protected].
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