Officials: Cigarette Starts Fire at Century-Old Home

Officials tell The Eagle-Tribune an improperly disposed cigarette ignited a blaze at a single-family home

Less than a week after a fire destroyed an abandoned mill in Haverhill, Massachusetts, firefighters have extinguished another fire - this time at a home that's more than a century old.

Officials tell The Eagle-Tribune an improperly disposed cigarette ignited a blaze at a single-family home on Saturday afternoon. The blaze took three hours to contain.

Nora Lee Murphy owned and occupied the three-bedroom home.

Deputy Fire Chief William Laliberty says there were no reports of damage to any surrounding homes. He says the fire was in the back of the home. He says it's questionable whether the house will have to be demolished.

Deputy Chief Eric Tarpy says the home's design forced firefighters to fight the blaze from the outside.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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