MA FFs Save Two From Burning Duplex

At least two people were saved from an Elm Street housefire Thursday afternoon but their pet cat was not as lucky.

Fire Chief Ken Berkenbush was in the downtown area when a structure fire was reported somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 or 27 Elm Street around 1:30 p.m. May 19.

The chief headed for the area and said he soon saw smoke coming from the third floor of the home at 31 Elm St.

"I could hear alarms going off in the building and there was a man hanging out the window, saying that his son was trapped up on the third floor and couldn't make the stairs," he said.

Berkenbush called for a second fire alarm and also called for ambulances at the scene.

First responders were able to evacuate at least two people, the father and his son, from the duplex but eventually found a pet cat that had died.

"They lost a cat but everybody else was fine," Berkenbush said.

Berkenbush added the fire was confined to the third floor and was knocked down pretty quickly.

Firefighters ended up having to cut a hole in the roof to vent the heat and the house is currently uninhabitable but Berkenbush said it can be repaired.

"It took us a while to get the heat out of the building. It was up on the third floor, so it was only one window on either end," the fire chief said.

One Amesbury firefighter was also transported to the hospital with burns on his hand but returned to work quickly, according to Berkenbush.

The fire chief also said that the home was a duplex where the owners live, while also renting out the first floor as an Airbnb.

"It's like a combination business and home," he said.

Five engines and two ladder trucks responded to the scene Thursday, along with a pair of ambulances.

Apparatus from the Amesbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, Newbury, West Newbury, Merrimac and Hampton, N.H., Fire departments either responded to the scene or provided station coverage.

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