http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110217/NEWS02/702179909
Published February 17, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Cooking fire at Whitcomb Building causes dozens to evacuate
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Unattended cooking led to a fire in one of 72 apartments in the Louis Whitcomb Building in downtown Springfield Wednesday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of dozens of the senior residents.
No one was hurt in the fire, which was reported shortly before 1 p.m.
One resident, not the resident of the burned apartment, was taken to Springfield Hospital as a precaution, Springfield Fire Chief Russell Thompson said.
The cause of the fire was accidental, and Thompson said the woman whose apartment burned felt terrible about the fire.
He said the woman lost her pet guinea pigs in the fire.
The fire in the six-story brick building, built in 1980 and located at a key intersection in downtown, drew close to a dozen fire trucks and dozens of firefighters, who were prepared to rescue the elderly and disabled residents.
Ladder trucks were brought in, if needed, to rescue the residents, some of whom could be seen watching the commotion from their small balconies before they were evacuated.
Firefighters could be seen throwing damaged furniture and cabinets out of the window of the second-floor apartment where the fire started.
Thompson said the first Springfield fire crew on the scene encountered an active fire in the second-floor apartment and dense smoke up on the fifth floor, escalating the fire response.
The community room at the building, located in a wing not directly affected by the fire and smoke, was used by Golden Cross and Chester ambulance crews to check residents to make sure they were OK, the chief said.
Thompson said smoke could pose just as much as a danger as fire, and firefighters methodically tested the air on the different floors and apartments before people were allowed to return.
By nightfall, all of the residents were able to return to their apartments, with the exception of the burned apartment.
William Morlock, executive director of the Springfield Housing Authority, which owns and operates the housing complex, said the woman whose apartment was damaged by the fire had family in the area and would stay with them.
He said he could not identify the woman. He said 80 people lived in the apartment complex.
Morlock, who came to the scene, said he hadn’t yet been inside the building to assess the damage.
Thompson said the fire department works with the residents of the Whitcomb and Huber buildings, the two large elderly housing complexes in downtown Springfield, on what action they should take in an emergency.
“The pre-planning and work paid off,” he said.
Departments assisting at the scene were Golden Cross Ambulance, Chester Ambulance, Charlestown (N.H.) Ambulance, and Chester Fire Department, Bellows Falls Fire Department, Claremont (N.H.) Fire Department, Rockingham Fire Department, Reading Fire Department, West Weathersfield Fire Department and Ascutney Fire Department.
Firefighters from more than a half-dozen departments from Vermont and New Hampshire were at the Louis G. Whitcomb building in Springfield for a fire Wednesday. The fire started in a second-floor apartment and was accidental, Springfield Fire Chief Russell Thompson said.
Photo: Albert J. Marro / Staff Photo
A nother Whitcomb building fire.
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