Firefighters limit damage to Windham home

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:54:00 GMT

The cause of a two-alarm fire in a two-story colonial home at 81 Searles Road on Wednesday, July 23, is under investigation by fire officials, though witnesses say the house was struck by lightning.

The fire was reported at about 5 p.m. by neighbors, just as severe thunderstorms blanketed the region. More than 30 firefighters from six different stations, including nearby Salem and as far away as Londonderry and Hampstead, fought the fire for more than an hour before bringing the blaze under control a little past 6 p.m.

No one was home at the time of the fire.

Arriving home from a trip to Maine just as firefighters began to douse the flames, the owners – Heidi Heath and Kevin Tsung – declined to comment.

Windham and Pelham fire officials have not yet determined the cause of the blaze, despite an eye-witness report that lightning struck the house.

“It was a lightning strike. I thought it hit my truck,” said Plinio Mejia, a Comcast employee installing cable in a neighbor’s home. “I saw a little smoke come up from the top and when I got closer it was worse.”

Mejia said the house burst into flames within a span of five minutes, at which time he tried to force his way into the home, thinking someone might be inside. After a neighbor told him that the owners were out of town, Mejia gave up and moved away from the fire that had already begun to consume the attic, roof and rear of the home.

The lightning hit the house around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, according to Mejia.

“There was lightning everywhere,” he said.

Working cooperatively in three teams of four or five, firefighters from across the area battled the fire from within the home, leaving the blaze isolated in the attic with no avenue to expand in what Derry Fire Chief George Klauber called a “phenomenal stop.”

“What saved us here was that (the firefighters) were very aggressive about getting into the house,” Klauber said, surrounded by fire officials from neighboring towns at the command vehicle across the street from the home.

With Salem’s ladder truck holding the fire at bay from above, teams inside first contained the fire and then pushed their way into the attic to bring the blaze under control.

Four hoses pumped water into the home, three from the front and a fourth in the rear.

“Interior hose lines are the main way to control the fire,” Klauber said. “You don’t want to push the fire from the outside, you want to put people inside and push the fire out.”

Crews going inside rotated as their oxygen tanks ran low, keeping constant pressure on the fire and limiting the fire damage to the attic and rear of the house.

Klauber estimated the damages to be roughly over $100,000 and limited to only the top floors of the home. A lot of the systems inside the house remained undamaged, he said, and that while the house had been declared unlivable for the time being, it could be repaired.

“They’ve got some substantial work ahead. Extensive rehabilitation for smoke and water (damage) in the house, but it can be repaired. The (firefighters) did a great job,” Klauber said. “We had some experienced firefighters.”

Lightning causes Windham fire

Salem Editor — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:44:00 GMT

BY DARRELL HALEN

A million-dollar home in Windham was destroyed by fire last week after being hit by lightning.

The owners were away in Mexico when firefighters from several communities fought the blaze at 1 Timberlane Road during the evening of Thursday, May 10.

“I was on my way home and saw smoke,” said Linda Moore, one of dozens of onlookers who watched firefighters use water hoses to attack the fire. “I was hoping it wasn’t my house, not that I wish this on anyone. What a terrible thing to happen.”

Fire Chief Tom McPherson said the area was hit by “some sort of microburst” – featuring rain, thunder, lightning and hail – shortly before 6 p.m.

Five residences were hit by lightning at the same time, but the house on Timberlane Road was the only one that caught fire.

“There was no one in the residence,” McPherson said. “Thank God for that.”

According to town assessor records, the house is owned by Jose M. and Maria A. Azevedo. It sits on 2.09 acres and is assessed at $1,011,900.

“It’s quite devastating,” said Moore, who, like many people, photographed the blaze. “I think it has to be every homeowner’s worst nightmare.”

A man standing across the road from the house, who said he was the owners’ son but declined to give his name, said his parents were vacationing in Mexico. They had been gone about a week, he said. Told of the fire, they were booking an early flight home.

“No one got hurt,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

The man held his young son as he watched firefighters battling the blaze.

“He’s kind of sad,” the man said. “His grandpa’s house is on fire.”

Deanna Missert, who lives two houses down the street at 5 Timberlane Road, walked over to them with her three children, Kaley, Justin and Brittany. The kids gave the boy a box of Bendo’s, and Deanna gave the boy a soft pat on the back.

Missert said her sister-in-law, Mary, was at a local school when Mary’s husband called her and told her not to come home because golf-ball sized hail was falling. Mary drove to Deanna’s house, instead, and told them their neighbor’s house was on fire.

Deanna’s husband, Tom, stayed with their kids and called 911 while Deanna rushed to the burning house. A man and a woman were already there, going around the house to see if anyone was home, she said.

“It (the fire) just spread across the roof,” Tom Missert said.

When the first crew of Windham firefighters opened a door to the house’s attic, the fire was so large they had to back off, according to McPherson.

“Our first arriving company made a valiant effort to get inside to control the fire,” Lt. Fire Chief Robert Leuci told reporters. “Unfortunately, it got ahead of them too fast. Conditions became untenable, and we had to pull them out and made a call for mutual aid.”

The fire is under investigation, but McPherson said his department believes lightning was the cause, citing the strange weather system that wreaked havoc and witness accounts.

Firefighters from at least a dozen communities helped battle the blaze. Because Windham lacks a municipal water system, water had to be transported to the scene.

Tania Ellis, watching the fire at 3 Timberlane Road, saw firefighters drawing water from the swimming pool behind the burning house.

Melanie Dow was watching the fire with several people around 8 p.m. They gasped when a section of a stone wall on the front of the house collapsed.

Windham News : fire

Firefighters limit damage to Windham home

Lightning causes Windham fire