Gloucester Fire Department In Action
Fire Chars New Eastern Point Home
(Courtesy of Gloucester Daily Times)
By DAVID JOYNER
Times staff
Unusually flammable building materials posed a safety hazard to firefighters during a blaze inside a single-family house on Eastern Point Boulevard this morning.
The two-alarm fire broke out in a front bedroom at 127 Eastern Point Blvd., where the road bends shortly before reaching the Coast Guard Station, and was spotted by a lobsterman.
Firefighters, who would also have to contend with a car fire on East Main Street about the same time, received the call at 7:21 a.m.
Deputy Chief Steve Aiello sounded two alarms, bringing a complement of four engines, a ladder and a rescue squad to the scene. Firefighters from Manchester, Rockport and Essex were called to cover Gloucester's fire stations during the blaze.
No one was home at the time, said Aiello, who did not know the identity of the homeowner, though he noted the person was on their way this morning.
Aiello said firefighters needed 15 to 20 minutes to contain the fire, the cause of which was not immediately known. They spent another 20 to 30 minutes checking for problems and making sure flames were extinguished.
The two-story's exterior was mostly saved, though the front bedroom was gutted and other parts of the first floor charred. Heat and smoke damaged a second-floor kitchen and living area, and the floor beneath a kitchen island bowed as if it were near collapse.
Firefighters said the sunken floor was testament to the type of materials used in the recently built home. Rather than typical wooden beams, supports were made of pressed particle board.
"It's a great piece of engineering 'til fire hits it," said Fire Capt. Peter Couture, pointing to spots where the supports had essentially disintegrated, causing the upstairs floor to bow.
Couture noted the floor was a hazard when fire crews walked into the house and started battling the bedroom blaze downstairs, not knowing the ceiling might collapse on top of them.
It also threatened firefighters on the second floor, who were entering a room black with smoke.
Couture said they could have easily walked onto the compromised floor, causing a collapse, but noticed the problem when they felt the floor become spongy beneath their feet.
"Had somebody come in while that room's still fully involved in fire, you're walking into a very hostile environment," he said.
Mayor Bruce Tobey, called to the scene as he is with any multiple alarm-fire, called the use of pressed board supports a "building code amendment issue."
"The outside is deceiving," he said of the exterior. "You figure they contained it well, and they did."
