(Courtesy of Gloucester Daily Times)
LISA ARSENAULT
Staff writer
A firefighter was injured last night responding to a blaze that caused extensive damage to the second and third floor apartments of a Madison Avenue home.
The fire started in the second-floor kitchen at 7 Madison Ave. The Fire Department arrived at 5:28 p.m., just three minutes after a call went to the station.
Building owner Fred Ellis said he had left the kitchen stove on to heat the apartment, something he had done the last several nights.
Ellis said he was downstairs when he heard a smoke alarm and went upstairs to find that a fire had broken out his kitchen.
Fire Department Capt. Allyn Smith was taken to Addison Gilbert to be treated for a knee injury. Smith was injured while hooking the pump to the hydrant in an attempt to quickly get water to the scene, said Deputy Fire Chief Carleton Ekborg.
Smith was treated in the emergency department with a leg brace and crutches, and was later released.
Ellis was able to get out of the burning building without injury. The damage to his home was extensive, but fire officials said he was lucky the fire didn't spread further.
Ekborg, the incident commander at the scene, said he would have had to call another department for help if the fire had spread. Damage was centered on the second and third floors, he said, but luckily didn't spread to the attic and roof.
"It was a great knock-down," Ekborg said. "The crew did a beautiful job."
Ellis said the house has been in his family for 50 years.
Onlooker and Madison Court resident Rosario Asaro said firefighters and the homeowner were all lucky the fire did not spread to the roof. Asaro was a Gloucester firefighter for 32 years before retiring at the rank of captain.
