Brockton

Woman Jumps From Second Story to Escape Fire in Brockton

One adult was taken to the hospital

NBC Universal, Inc.

Heavy fire ripped through three floors of a multi-use building in Brockton, Massachusetts, overnight, sending smoke billowing into the sky as flames emerged over the building's roof.

When crews with the Brockton Fire Department arrived, someone was jumping off the second floor of the building to escape the flames, Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli said while speaking to reporters on scene early Tuesday morning.

First responders were first called to the fire on Warren Avenue shortly after 11 p.m., and had to battle heavy fire throughout three floors.

"Quite a bit of fire," Chief Nardelli said. "Heavy heat on the third floor, but we got most of the fire, heavy body of fire knocked down, we're chasing hot spots now."

One adult was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center. All of the eight people who were inside the home made it out.

The top two floors are apartments, which were heavily damaged in the fire.

The first floor is Bud’s Variety Convenience Store, which the chief said sustained mostly smoke and water damage.

Chief Nardelli said it can be really tricky getting at the pockets of fire in two and a half story wood frame buildings like this one – which is part of the reason they struck four alarms.

“There’s a lot of void spaces in them, in the two and a halfs, you’ve got knee walls, you’ve got attic spaces, it gets in there, that super-heated smoke, expands, expands, expands," you saw the fire," the chief said. "We cut a hole in the roof, we had basically a blow torch coming out of there, that’s what we want to relieve the crews, so they can get in and fight the fire, but it just takes a while."

Antonio Santos says with the fire growing, his neighbor fell or jumped through the roof of the second floor porch and then jumped to the ground below.

“I feel something like a boom, so I just come outside, I see her standing on the top floor, so as soon her I look in her eyes, she just fell down,” said Santos, who lives next door.

The owner of Bud’s Variety on the first floor says his business is likely a total loss.

“Fire, flames, smoke…we lost everything, we lost our business, we lost our everything," Owner Mohammad Uddin said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and an investigation is underway.

Contact Us