SOUTHWICK – Three families were displaced Christmas Eve and narrowly escaped serious injury when a fire broke out in a Two States Avenue home on Congamond Lake.
An infant boy was sleeping in the basement apartment of the three-family home and his parents were in the second floor apartment when smoke was seen coming from the basement window.
The child’s mother acted quickly to get her son out and ran outside, smashed a window, crawled inside and grabbed the child, and crawled back out because there was no interior access between the apartments.
She and the baby both suffered from smoke inhalation and the woman was also treated for leg lacerations from the broken window. The child’s father was also treated for smoke inhalation.
The home’s two other occupants also escaped.
Southwick Fire Chief Richard Anderson said all three family members were taken to Baystate Medical Center but the baby was transferred to Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston.
“We later got word that the baby wasn’t as bad off as we first thought, so that was good,” Anderson said. “It could have been much worse.”
Anderson said Christmas Day that the department was still piecing together what happened with help from Trooper Michael Mazza of the state fire marshal’s office.
“We know the parents had been at a Christmas party and when they got home they put the sleeping baby to bed and went to the upstairs apartment,” said Anderson. “We think the fire may have started in the basement.”
The homeowners live on the first floor and were not home at the time. Anderson said seven people live in the home. They ran outside to rescue the baby because there was no internal access.
“Someone on the second floor happened to go out on the deck for a cigarette and saw the smoke coming out the basement window,” Anderson said.
Southwick Fire Department received the call around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday night and were on scene until mid-afternoon yesterday when the blaze was finally knocked out.
“Fifty-percent of the house was engulfed when we arrived,” Anderson said.
Because of low-hanging electrical wires, firefighters had a tough time attacking the blaze and focused on containing it to the original structure.
“The homes on either side of the house had some damage, but it wasn’t bad,” said Anderson. “One had some melted siding and the other some smoke damage, but they were both saved.”
The fast-moving fire destroyed the multi-family home.
The fire collapsed the roof of the house about an hour after firefighters arrived, said Anderson. Mutual aid was given by Westfield, Suffield, and Granville fire departments, and Anderson said everyone worked tirelessly, including the police.
“Southwick Police did a great job,” he said.
The American Red Cross was called in to work with the families who lost everything. An excavator will be brought in to clear out the wreckage.
Anderson said the baby is expected to be fine.
“It could have been a fatal,” he said.
Nora’s Restaurant has begun a collection to replenish what was lost in the fire, and a youcaring fund for the family with the baby can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/other/help-family-who-lost-house-in-christmas-eve-fire/282705#.VJx9BhT-E3Z.facebook.
