(Courtesy of Gloucester Daily Times)
By JOHN ENOS
Times staff
A firefighter was injured when he fell into the cellar of a smoke-filled house being renovated in Annisquam yesterday afternoon. Ted Bazdanes was inside 3 Arlington St. when he fell 10 to 12 feet through a hole on the first floor intended for future use as a flight of stairs. Bazdanes crawled out of the cellar door. Members of a rescue squad attended to him before a Lyons ambulance arrived.
"He was pretty banged up," another firefighter said.
Bazdanes was taken to Addison Gilbert Hospital for treatment and later sent home.
Firefighters found a fire on the exterior wall when they arrived around 3:50 p.m. Michael Chipperini and Robert Cooney attacked the flames with a hose. After the house was ventilated, firefighters found the blaze had begun in a corner in the front of the house, reported Deputy Fire Chief Philip Dench.
The department contacted the state fire marshal's office, which dispatched state police officer Elkin Arrendondo to investigate the cause of the fire. He was joined by two local police detectives, Joseph Fitzgerald and James Marr Jr. They spoke with supervisor Ricco Leal, who said his men had been burning wood in a fireplace to keep warm while working. Every day they put the ashes in a plastic bag, which was thrown out in the yard.
One worker told the investigators he had put the previous day's ashes in a plastic bag, which he tossed into the corner of the front room corner. Arrendondo suspects a still-hot ember in the bag caused the fire. Leal said he left around 2:45 p.m. and the other men around 3 p.m.
The fire was discovered by 15-year-old Abby Deering, who saw smoke while walking to a friend's home. She ran back to her house at 18 Arlington St. and dialed 911. The house is owned by the 3 Arlington St. Realty Trust. The trustees are Richard and Lorraine Bunker of 150 Wheeler St. and Roberta Kanarek of Sudbury.
