Water Access Slows Response to 2-Alarm Fire

Water access slowed the response to a 2-alarm fire in Boxford, Massachusetts, Monday afternoon.

Fire officials say the family and most of their pets at 9 Crooked Pond Drive made it out of the home safely. Access to water was an issue for crews because the area does not have fire hydrants or many bodies of water.

"Everyone here has a private well, so we obviously have to rely on filling our tankers and keeping them at the station filled and when they run out we have to sometimes called in mutual aid which they've done today," explained Boxford selectman Bill Cargill.

Mutual aid has been requested from Groveland, Topsfield, Georgetown and Middleton.

"Being in a town without hydrants can be difficult. Right now the guys are doing an awesome job keeping the water going. We've had very minimal interruptions with water," added Chief Brian Geiger of the Boxford Fire Department.

This isn't the first fire in this neighborhood and that has neighbors concerned, but Cargill says adding working hydrants likely won't happen.

"I don't think we'll ever see it in this town," Cargill said. "It'll just be too extensive to the infrastructure."

The town's fire chief believes the blaze began in the garage. The owners run a business from their home and were able to salvage a lot of important paperwork.

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