(Courtesy of Gloucester Daily Times)
By LOU MANDARINI
Photo by Desi Smith
Ten people are homeless after a four-alarm blaze ravaged a house at
38 Millett St. early yesterday morning. The first engines 
arrived
at 2:58 a.m. Sunday morning. At 3:05, the second alarm was sounded followed
by a third at 3:35 a.m., and a fourth at 3:57 a.m. Deputy Chief Stephen
Aiello calls the blaze suspicious, but says he doesn't know an exact cause.
Officials do know, however, that the fire started somewhere on the first floor, toward the back of the three-family house, which is owned by the estate of Samuel Raizin. Though Aiello said the fire was strong, the situation was worsened by the fact that the three closest fire hydrants to the house didn't work.
One hydrant on Summit Street was frozen, another on Summit Street had no water pressure and a third on Trask Street was dry. Aiello said firefighters were forced to lay more than 2,000 feet of fire hose to the nearest working hydrant, which was on Sargent Street. "It was just about as bad as it gets," Aiello said.
At any given time early yesterday morning, there were more than 30 Gloucester firefighters at the scene. Throughout the day, nearly all of the department worked on the blaze. Firefighters had the fire under control by about 5:30 a.m. and, throughout the morning and early afternoon, crews remained to extinguish "hot spots" in the charred shell that, less than 12 hours before, had been a home. According to Aiello, the fire was one of the worst he's seen in years.
All residents of the house escaped without harm -- only because most of them were still awake, according to Aiello. "These people were lucky to get out with their lives," said Aiello. "And that's all they got out with." One bystander was taken to Addison Gilbert Hospital for an anxiety-related condition.
Because of patches of ice on the sidewalk in front of the burning house and on its side stairs, he said many firefighters had a tough time getting their footing. "Lots of firefighters were slipping and sliding," Aiello said. He said the slips led to a number of sprains and ankle twists for firefighters -- injuries that, while minor, didn't make fighting the charging blaze any easier.
He said the third and fourth alarms were sounded not only because of the water supply problems, but also because of the close proximity of houses on each side of the blaze. He said the conflagration had the potential for disaster because there were houses close to the fire on both sides, and in back of 38 Millett St.
Aiello said the firefighters got a break in that the worst parts of the fire were in the front and back of the house, rather than on the sides. This, he said, kept the fire from spreading to nearby homes. For Jerome Lentini, that burn pattern was especially good news. Lentini, who called in the fire, lives next door at 36 Millett St. "I'm lucky," said Lentini. "I've never seen anything like this. I'm sick."
Compared to his neighbors, Lentini's house came through relatively unscathed: the vinyl siding that faced 38 Millett St. melted a bit, and received extensive smoke damage. Peggy Perrin of Forest Street was shocked by what she saw when her husband woke her up shortly after 3 a.m. "It was an inferno," said Perrin. "When I looked out my window, fire was coming out of every window. It was awful." Perrin said she walked around the neighborhood late yesterday morning and saw ash all over houses and cars.
The residents of 38 Millett St. are now staying at the Cape Ann Marina Resort for the next few days. Those arrangements were made by the American Red Cross. A fourth family that lives in a house behind 38 Millett St. is also staying at Cape Ann Marina because gas to the immediate area was shut off while state and local fire officials conduct their investigation into a cause. Fire Chief Barry McKay said it could take several weeks for a final report to be issued on the fire.
According to McKay, suspicious has a different meaning to fire officials than it does to laymen. He says it refers to any fire for which investigators have limited information. "Because all the evidence is now in the basement, it makes reconstruction difficult," said McKay. "But sometimes you can piece together what happened." While the investigation is still ongoing, McKay and Public Works Director William Robertson are scheduled to meet today to discuss the problems that firefighters encountered with hydrants in the area.
Gloucester police officers were called to 38 Millett St. several hours before the fire began, at 12:47 a.m., about a loud party. Officers warned Ernest Casillas, a resident, to tone the party down or they would have to take action.
