A desperate Lawrence mom who screamed at her 20-year-old son to jump out his bedroom window during a raging house fire, died along with her son after she ran back inside to try and save his life, a neighbor told the Herald this morning.
Linda Cahalane escaped the 11:50 p.m. blaze with her husband, Russ Cahalane, but as flames leapt out of the back of the house, the couple couldn't convince their son, Sean, to jump from a second-floor window over the garage, said next-door neighbor Roger Twomey.
"They must have woke Sean up, but he didn't get out and he was hanging out his bedroom window. His mother yelled, 'Jump. Jump,"' said Twomey, who is also a city councilor. "Linda had gone back in to get Sean out, but it was just too late. The firemen couldn't get in because it was so intense."
Twomey said Russ Cahalane was taken to the hospital as a precaution after the bodies were discovered inside the home.
Fire investigators are at the Cahalane's split-level ranch home at 15 Leeds Terrace this morning.
Neighbors described Sean Cahalane, who lived with his parents, as having special needs because he mentally developed slower than others his age.
"He was dearly loved by everybody because he was so personable and so innocent and a beautiful, beautiful young man," said neighbor Claire Navaria.
The fire was reported at 11:51 p.m. yesterday and firefighters were at the scene in three minutes, said Lawrence Fire Deputy John Marsh.
The Lawrence blaze wasn't the only fire tragedy overnight.
One person was killed in one of two overnight fires in Hopkinton. A man died in a single alarm house fire at 19 Meserve St. That fire was reported at 9:12 p.m., according to the Hopkinton Fire Department.
A second fire, this one a three-alarm fire, was reported at 3:26 a.m. at 52 Hayden Rowe. There were no injuries in that fire.
The fire department is investigating to determine the causes of both fires.
Republished with permission from The Boston Herald
