Apartment fire traps residents in yard

Residents of a two-unit building on Union Street managed to escape their burning apartments late Wednesday evening only to find themselves trapped in their tiny backyard.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20101126/NEWS02/711269857

Published November 26, 2010 in the Rutland Herald         Apartment fire traps residents in yard         By ERIC FRANCIS         CORRESPONDENT         SPRINGFIELD — Residents of a two-unit building on Union Street managed to escape their burning apartments late Wednesday evening only to find themselves trapped in their tiny backyard amid rapidly deteriorating conditions.         The two adults and two children were “hemmed in by a fence, a garage, and a steep bank on one side,” said Springfield Fire Chief Russ Thompson. Thompson said the blaze at 158 Union St., on a hill above the downtown, was first spotted shortly after 10 p.m. by a passing motorist.         A volunteer firefighter from another community was driving by, noticed the fire and made the 911 call,” Thompson said. “We got a report of heavy fire involvement in a residential area and initially when our guys arrived there was a question of whether or not we had a life hazard because, although the people had left the building and were out back, they were in kind of a landlocked yard area where we had to extricate them.”         The only way out to the street ran between the burning two-and-a-half-story apartment house and a larger three-story home next door, which the flames were already heading toward. “It was only 18 to 20 feet to that exposure and there were flames impinging toward it. Heavy smoke and fire conditions were keeping them pinned in the back and our first crews had to actually knock down some flames, cool that side, and stabilize the path so we could escort the people to a safe area,” Thompson said. “At that time, the fire wasn’t under control. As a matter of fact, it was still burning actively,” he noted.         After the residents emerged unhurt from the back yard, Springfield firefighters, who were soon joined by mutual aid engine companies from Bellows Falls, Chester and Charlestown, N.H., switched from hand-held hose lines to large “master stream” deck guns mounted on the fire trucks themselves and took advantage of the fact that they were well within the downtown’s hydrant district to concentrate water on the blaze.         The converted house, which Thompson described as a “typical Vermont-type apartment setting,” was heavily damaged and crews remained on the scene doing overhaul well towards dawn, even though the bulk of the responders, including engines that were sent from Ascutney and Weathersfield to cover the Springfield station, were sent home just before 2 a.m.         “I would say the building is a total loss at this point without any hesitation,” Thompson said. “At this time we don’t know a cause. It’s under investigation and we will be meeting with the state fire marshal at the scene on Friday but I have no idea at this point,’’ he added.         http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20101126/NEWS02/711269857