Essex: House fire blamed on malfunctioning refrigrator

By Michael Farrell
Staff writer

June 28, 2008 12:31 am

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ESSEX — A mother and her three children escaped a two-alarm fire at 10 Harry Homans Drive on Thursday night.

Homeowner Patty Rogers had just put her three children, all under 4, to bed when she went back downstairs and smelled smoke, according to Cynthia Quinn, the emergency services director at the American Red Cross of Northeast Massachusetts.

Seeing the smoke coming from her refrigerator she called 911, woke up her children and safely got them all out of the two-story house. Her husband, Todd Rogers, arrived home shortly after the emergency vehicles arrived.

Both Patty and Todd Rogers, noticeably distraught, declined to comment yesterday morning.

The fire started due to an electrical malfunction in the freezer of the refrigerator, said Deputy Chief Dan Doucette, of the Essex Fire Department. The fire quickly spread from the kitchen to the main dining area and upstairs, where it severely damaged the master bedroom.

When Essex fire crews arrived five minutes after receiving the 911 call at 7:54 p.m., the flames were coming out the front door, a first-floor window and two windows on the second floor.

"Oh, it spread very rapidly," Doucette said. "It exited out of the kitchen to the other rooms in a short period of time."

Five emergency vehicles and approximately three dozen firefighters from four different communities, said Doucette. Essex sent two fire engines and a ladder truck, and Manchester and Hamilton each contributed an engine. An additional air supply unit, which is responsible for keeping the firemen's air tanks full, arrived from Wenham. During the event, Ipswich sent an engine to cover the Essex fire station in case of a second emergency.

To reduce smoke damage, firemen cut a hole in the roof to vent the smoke. According to Doucette, the fire was quickly contained and was mostly put out after only half an hour. It was pretty straight forward, he said.

Crews remained on the scene until midnight.

A medium-sized crowd composed of concerned neighbors, friends and family members gathered at the scene during the fire. One neighbor, said Quinn, told her that she had been attracted by a popping noise. When the neighbor snapped one picture with a cell phone camera, the fire was only in a window, but by the second picture the flames had increased dramatically and made a noise that she described as an "explosion type noise."

A team of Red Cross volunteers from Essex, Hamilton and Ipswich arrived at the scene shortly after 10 p.m. to provide assistance to the Rogers family.

"They seemed to be OK," Quinn said. The family is staying with relatives. "There was a lot of support from neighbors and friends," Quinn added.

During the emergency, said Quinn, the Rogers were probably more focused on the disaster. With time to absorb what has happened to them, Quinn said, that their concerns will likely focus on long-term issues such as where they will stay while their home is being repaired, taking care of insurance issues, and doing their best to provide for their family in this time of crisis.

Among their frustrations, said Quinn, is that they had recently finished building an addition to the home. With all the other issues that they have to deal with, said Quinn, "that has to be frustrating, too."

Three rooms in the house were severely damaged by fire, and the rest of the structure suffered smoke and water damage.

With all the damage, salvaging essentials such as clothes and toys for the kids becomes difficult. The Red Cross was able to help with some essentials that the family would have difficulty finding late at night, including toothpaste and toothbrushes, as well as Mickey Mouse dolls and teddy bears for the children.

For the long term, said Quinn, the Red Cross will have a meeting with the Rogers to see what their losses and needs are. After which they will issue them a Red Cross credit card which they can use to buy food, clothes and other necessities. If they have to end up moving to another place, while they wait for their house to be repaired, the Red Cross will also pay for their first month of rent.

The Red Cross also has counseling services available if the family wants it.

Michael Farrell can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucester.com.

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