By Peter Currier
The Sun
DUNSTABLE, Mass. — Fire crews from a number of different local departments responded to a four-alarm fire in a residence across the street from the Dunstable Fire Department .
Deputy Fire Chief Patrick Kerrigan said Monday afternoon as crews cleared the scene that his department was informed of the fire a little after 9 a.m., not from a 911 call, but from a nearby witness who ran over to the station to call attention to a growing fire across the street.
“There were two guys on duty, and somebody was banging on the window saying there was a fire across the street,” said Kerrigan. “They did the best they could with two guys showing up right off the bat.”
Kerrigan said there were no injuries reported among residents or pets in the house, but he was not sure at the scene exactly how many people the fire displaced. Shortly after the fire was extinguished Kerrigan said it was also too soon to say what exactly caused the fire. The Massachusetts Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the blaze.
“It appeared it may have started in the barn side, and spread over towards the house. Crews did a great job at trying to keep it from that house,” said Kerrigan.
The barn in question was located on the left side of the house at 31 Pleasant St. when viewing it from the road, but it appears to have been completely burned down. The main structure of the house largely remains standing, but with significant fire damage visible throughout.
The original response from Dunstable Fire was soon supported by almost 10 other departments providing mutual aid, Kerrigan said. Among the departments seen at the fire were Billerica , Nashua, N.H. , Pelham, N.H. , Dracut , Pepperell , Ayer , Westford and Littleton .
Directly across the street from the burnt-out home is West Auto Repair, where employee John Vinal said he was working out back when a customer came in and let them know of the fire. Vinal said one of his co-workers, who had since left for the day, immediately ran across the street to make sure everybody got out of the burning home, and in doing so he was able to get their dog out safely.
“It burned for two and a half hours … It went for quite a while. Everything is totally gone, we’ve been helping out the family there and I got the chance to go in and take a look around. There is nothing left, they are going to have to take the whole building down, I would say,” said Vinal.
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