Fire claims life of Windsor Lane resident

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January 27, 2013

Fire claims life of Windsor Lane resident

By Marjorie Nesin Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Sun Jan 27, 2013, 02:41 PM EST

GLOUCESTER — A two-alarm fire that ravaged a Windsor Lane home late last night has left a Gloucester resident dead, fire officials confirmed today.

Fire Chief Eric Smith said there was reportedly just one person living in the one-story wood frame home, and the resident was reportedly trapped inside. Fire officials had not identified the victim as of Sunday afternoon. No firefighters, other emergency personnel or neighbors were injured in the blaze.

Firefighters believe smoke detectors may have been inactive or faulty in the home, since the department received no notice of the fire until a neighbor of the 4 Windsor Lane home, seeing flames billowing from a skylight and windows, called firefighters about 11:02 p.m. reporting that the house was burning and the female resident and her pets might be inside, Chief Smith said.

Smith said that, with such damage at the home, it is hard to confirm for sure if smoke detectors were installed and operational, but it seemed unlikely.

“The common thought and wisdom here is had the victim had operable smoke detectors, they would have had enough time to escape,” Smith said. “One would expect that had there been smoke detectors there, once the fire got to the point where people hear it and realize we have a fire, it’s time to leave, that people would leave.”

When firefighters arrived on scene, the home — on a small street off Western Avenue just beyond Stage Fort Park — was about 85 percent engulfed in flames, Smith said. Firefighters also found two dogs that were killed in the fire, according to a report.

“The reality is that, even though (the firefighter’s) efforts were outstanding and coordinated well, when we pull up to a fully involved fire like that, the likelihood of anyone surviving that is very slim,” Smith said.

The fire was the fifth significant house fire in the city in the last 10 days, and the second of the weekend. Another fire heavily damaged a house on Maplewood Avenue earlier Saturday, but there were no reported injuries in that blaze.

For more coverage of this story, look to tomorrow’s print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.

Marjorie Nesin can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3451, or at mnesin@gloucestertimes.com.