Off-Duty Mass. Firefighter Helps Woman From Blaze

PEABODY, Mass. -- The loud and dramatic lightning bolt that set a Roosevelt Avenue home on fire yesterday came from the heavens, but rescue came from the neighbors.

Dan Rasteen looked out to see flames beckoning from a basement window of his neighbor's one-story ranch home. Eager to help, he did not run toward the fire but across the street to Frank Grafton, a 28-year Chelsea firefighter.

"He knew what to do," said Rasteen, who followed and did it right along with him.

Together, the two men urged the woman in the home to get out.

"She was calm, cool and collected," Rasteen recalled.

He thinks she may have been unaware of the extent of the problem spreading beneath her feet.

Meanwhile, Grafton wasn't waiting. He led the way to the backyard, where the sloping landscape exposes the entire rear basement wall. Smoke was still pouring from a full-sized window adjacent to the basement door.

"It was coming through everywhere," Rasteen said.

Grafton attached a hose to the outdoor spigot and began spraying through the window, working to put the basement fire out.

"I put the fire underwater," Grafton said. "I kept the hose line aimed on top of the ceiling."

Visible evidence of burning was knocked down in about five minutes, Rasteen estimated.

"It was a good save on his part," Rasteen said.

The Peabody Fire Department still had work to do getting it completely out when they arrived.

"The fire was under control in 20 minutes," said Capt. Ted Quinn, who acknowledged Grafton's efforts.

By then, firefighters had opened all the basement windows and some on the upper floor, providing ventilation.

Quinn declined to put a dollar value on the havoc caused by the fire, but he noted heavy water damage in the basement, in addition to smoke damage on the upper floor. He dismissed the idea that the monsoon-like rain would have diminished the fire in any way.

"People say it's raining, so you shouldn't have a fire," he said with a shrug. In this case, the fire was confined initially to the sheltered basement interior. "Rain doesn't have any effect."

Three Peabody pumpers and a ladder truck responded to the fire, along with an ambulance, which wasn't needed, and several Peabody police officers. The Lynn Department covered the city in the meantime.

Grafton declined to have his photo taken and expressed some reluctance about being in the newspaper. He was preparing for work. "I'm in tonight," he said.

The Roosevelt Avenue neighborhood hasn't had a fire in many years, Grafton said. But he lamented the impact of the rain, which at the height of the storm roared down the street ankle-deep and even as he spoke was descending in gushing streams from high ground behind his house, carrying off parts of his lawn.

Copyright 2012 - The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service