A fire at 26 Noble Ave. early Monday morning claimed the life of a resident, Raymond Megaro, 92, (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – A 92-year-old Noble Avenue resident has succumbed to injuries sustained when his house burned early Monday morning.
City police and firefighters report that a caller reported at 12:32 a.m. Monday that flames were coming out of the basement and said that the resident, Raymond Megaro, 92, was believed to be trapped inside.
Officer Chris Coach was the first to arrive at the apparently single family house which was fully involved in flames and was soon joined by Officer Michel Cekvosky.
Capt. Hipolito Nunez, a spokesperson for the department, said that the officers immediately attempted to enter the house but, when they were able to open a door, found “the whole first floor was filled with smoke.”
The officers backed out and the arriving firefighters took over the rescue effort, entering the smoky house in search of the resident.
Nunez said that after a ten-minute search, the firefighters emerged with an elderly man who was immediately transported to Noble Hospital for treatment. The man was subsequently identified as the resident, Megaro, and a hospital spokeswoman reported later that he had expired.
The firefighters then directed their full efforts to fighting the fire but a firefighter at the scene said their efforts were complicated by the amount of clutter in the house.
However, firefighters were pulled out of the house when a relative of the resident called the dispatcher to report that guns and ammunition were believed to have been stored in the basement of the house.
The fire raged for hours before it was brought under control although stubborn hot spots in the attic were still sending smoke into the sky at daybreak as firefighter continued to push water into the smoking building.
The house appears to be totally destroyed with blackened openings where windows once were and numerous gaps and holes in the walls and roof.
A section of Noble Avenue remained closed throughout the day as city and state investigators investigated the fire.
A state trooper attached the state fire marshal’s office said that the investigation is focused on the basement of the two story house where the fire appears to have begun.
