LOWELL Smoke trapped a firefighter in a third-floor apartment during a three-alarm blaze on East Merrimack Street in the predawn hours today, but he was rescued by his comrades before the room burst into flames.
There were a number of injuries among firefighters and residents, and a dog died in the blaze, said Fire Chief William Desrosiers.
Firefighter Danny Gannon was on the third floor of the multifamily home at 412 East Merrimack St. when he ran out of air on his backpack.
He hung his head out a window as a thick shroud of gray smoke enveloped him so completely he could not be seen for several moments from the street.
Other firefighters hustled an extension ladder to a porch and from there set another ladder on the porch roof that Gannon used to climb down.
He apparently suffered a serious cut on one of his hands with possible tendon damage as he climbed out the window, Desrosiers said.
Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Christoun gave the order to abandon the building as soon as Gannon was out of the building. Fire truck horns up and down the street blared to warn firefighters inside to leave the building.
Smoke alarms in the building sounded about 5 a.m., according to the Fire Department.
When firefighters arrived flames were at the front door, then slid up the inside of the walls to the second and third floors, according to Desrosiers.
At least two residents were forced to jump from second- and third-story windows when the hallway to the first floor was blocked by flames and smoke.
The dog died in a first-floor apartment, said Deputy Chief Thomas Christoun.
Two fire hydrants froze so firefighters had to run a hose up Park Street to Kittredge Park and down East Merrimack to other hydrants.
"Serious trouble. We had to keep searching for other hydrants," said Desrosiers who attributed the problems to weather conditions and not mechanical failures.
Danny St. Ours was asleep in a third-floor apartment when he heard the fire engine sirens coming up the street. When he reached for the doorknob out of his home it was so hot that he decided to leap out a window. He injured his right ankle in the fall.
"If anyone wants to feel sorry, feel sorry for all my belongings," said the house builder who lost his tools, clothes and other possessions.
Magdalene Njoroge, who lived in a second-floor apartment, also found herself trapped inside the blaze.
"I tried to open the door but there was fire coming from the first floor, so I had to come out the window," she said while sitting in a car to keep warm with Sergio Ricardo, who also lived in the apartment next door on the second floor.
Investigators this morning had not yet figured out why the fire started.
Jason "Jay" Jamieson said he bought the converted house last November. The Victorian-style house was built around 1889.
There were five apartments in the building but only four of them had residents, Desrosiers said.
The fire was declared under control at 7:25 a.m.
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