By Renee Nadeau
The Boston Herald
Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.
A four-alarm blaze on Newbury’s Plum Island Friday night required the help of 14 nearby fire departments due to the island’s lack of a municipal water supply.
“All our water had to be trucked in,” said Newbury Fire Chief Wallace Ziehler.
A long-term project to install new water and sewer pipes has left Plum Island with no town water supply or functioning fire hydrants. The project broke ground in September 2004.
The fire at 8 Sixth Street destroyed a single-family home. The five people in the house made it out safely and were transported to Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport for observation, Ziehler said.
Firefighters from Newburyport, Rowley, Byfield, West Newbury, Salisbury, Boxford, Groveland, Ipswich, Essex, Hampton Falls, South Hampton, Georgetown, Haverhill and Seabrook responded to the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.