Lawrence, MA 6th Alarm - E Cambridge St at Grainger St. - 5/7/15

Just after 4am, a box was put out, in house (not over the air) for a structure fire in the area of 118 Phillips St. in South Lawrence. Engines 5, 6 and 9, Ladder 4, Rescue 1 and Car 21, Deputy Chief McInnis were all sent to the call.

C21 was first on scene and reported a working fire on arrival quickly followed by a request for a 2nd alarm assignment. Engine 7 and Ladder 5 would be sent for additional manpower and get mutual aid companies rolling toward the city.

After a quick sizeup of what the fire conditions were, C21 ordered a 3rd alarm when reporting he had 3 buildings on fire.

The fire started in a house under construction in the rear of 118 Phillips St, which ended up collapsing very early on into the fire due to heavy fire volume. While 118 Phillips and other surrounding homes only suffered heat damage, the fire had quickly spread to a triple decker located at 121-123 East Cambridge St.

Due to the heavy fire load, companies went defensive right from the start with ladder pipe operations along with several handlines.

C21 would soon call for a 4th, 5th and 6th alarm assignments for additional manpower to the scene. Firefighters, even in a defensive posture, managed to knock down the heaviest volume of fire VERY quickly which was a key factor in keeping the fire from affecting more homes in the neighborhood.

Firefighters remained on scene for several hours wetting down hot spots. As of this writing, due to the fact that the house of origin had no power or gas service, the fire has been deemed suspicious by the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Mutual aid companies from Andover, N Andover, Methuen, Dracut, Lowell, Haverhill, Middleton, Salem NH and N Reading all send companies to the fire scene while Billerica, Danvers, Reading and Wilmington covered Lawrence Central Firehouse on Lowell St while crews battled the blaze.

I have to say, for the first time in over 15 years of shooting fires in Lawrence, access, early on when the heaviest volume of fire was still raging, was extremely limited. I generally have great access but last night was just one of those nights where it didn't pan out. But I completely understand that people have jobs to do....and a tough one in a tough city at that. LFD did a remarkable job knocking this fire down quick and preventing another major, multiple structure inferno from happening in South Lawrence. There efforts should not go unnoticed.