Woonsocket firefighters cut a hole in the roof at 76 Larch St.

By SANDY McGEE

WOONSOCKET — Woonsocket firefighters braved winter’s freezing temperatures and icy conditions on Wednesday to extinguish a house fire in a residential neighborhood located off Mendon Road. No one was injured in the blaze.

Finlay said the one resident, who was home at the time of the fire, escaped unharmed. The adult male resident smelled smoke from the fire that, according to the fire chief, had been burning for “some time.”

The unidentified resident managed to escape the home and contact the fire department, said Finlay. Two additional adults reportedly live in the Larch Street house.

Firefighters that first arrived were greeted to large swells of smoke, which made it difficult to find the fire’s location, Finlay said.

“We were met with heavy smoke upon arrival,” Finlay said. “The back wall (of the house) was full of fire.”

The fire was under control within 30 to 40 minutes after the firefighters’ arrival, according to the fire chief. Firefighters were still checking the building at noon to see if the fire was fully extinguished, Finlay said.

“We’re having trouble because the house has a lot of nooks, crannies and suspended ceilings,” Finlay said. The hidden spaces within the house means extra places where flames can hide, according to the fire chief.

Flames could be seen Wednesday afternoon from the roof of the two-story red residential home, which was surrounded by a white picket fence in this snow-covered neighborhood.

Members of the Woonsocket Fire Department tore a large hole in the house’s roof in order to release “toxic gases.”

“We had to open the roof for ventilation,” Finlay said. “Naturally, since it’s wintertime, the house was tied up tight.”

Since the house was closed up for the winter, the fire was trapped within the house. The house also filled with high levels of carbon monoxide, said Finlay.

Smoke could be seen billowing from the hole in the roof into the winter air. A few snow flurries began to fall in the area encompassed by red fire trucks, masked firemen and members of the Woonsocket Police Department and State Fire Marshal’s office. Yellow fire hoses carpeted the icy grounds surrounding the house.

The fire caused significant damage to all three floors, including the two main stories of the house and the attic, Finlay said. The house’s back wall was completely charred.

The cause and origin of the fire is unknown at this time, said Finlay.

The owner of the home was apparently placed inside a State Fire Marshal’s vehicle in order to keep warm as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. The resident apparently left the home fully dressed, but without winter gear to protect against the cold.

“All he had was a thin jacket,” said Allen Rivers, who lives in a house directly behind the scene of Wednesday’s fire.

Rivers was one of nearly a dozen local residents who stepped outside into the below freezing temperatures to watch Woonsocket’s firefighters battle Wednesday’s blaze.

Responding to the fire were four engines, two ladder trucks and two rescue vehicles, all from the Woonsocket Fire Department.

The Providence chapter of the American Red Cross will provide food and shelter to the three adult residents during the next two days, said a spokesperson for the local American Red Cross chapter.

An accident involving a city vehicle and a sports utility vehicle occurred later that afternoon at the intersection of Larch Street and Olive Street, not far from the scene of the earlier house fire.

A 2004 Dodge Durango, which was operated by a Ruth Messier, 64, of 7 First Ave., Cumberland, apparently struck a parked Woonsocket fire truck at the Larch and Olive Street intersection at approximately 1:55 p.m., said Woonsocket Deputy Chief of Police Richard Dubois.

According to Dubois, Messier was apparently attempting to drive her vehicle between a parked fire truck and another fire department vehicle when the SUV apparently slid on a patch of ice and struck the fire truck.

Messier was not injured in the accident, said Dubois. Both the fire truck and fire department vehicle were not occupied at the time of the accident.