06/01/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Sandwich, MA – A house fire at the Ridge Club injured two firefighters and re-ignited some eight hours later, on Monday, May 31, 2010, as reported by The Boston Channel.
The fire first ignited at approximately 12:30 p.m. at a million-dollar home inside the private golf community. Neighbors reported they believed a gas grill with a gas line hose attached exploded, and the fire extended to the home. Fire officials are still investigating.
Two fire departments were dispatched to the scene. The closest fire department was closed due to budget cuts. It took approximately 10 minutes for the first firefighters to arrive, and two entered the burning home.
The fire resulted in a massive explosion, which threw the two firefighters approximately 40 feet. One firefighter suffered a broken ankle; the other, a broken neck and back.
According to Sandwich fire Capt. Jim Huska, A back draft occurred in the attic of the house that actually blew part of the roof off the house, and it blew two of our firefighters out of the house through the deck railing…If we could have got water on the fire sooner, it may have prevented the explosion.”
At approximately 8:30 p.m., the fire re-ignited. There were no firefighters available to respond at first. Mutual aid helped respond to the fire. Huska cited lack of funding for the staffing shortage.
The fire was contained, but the fire chief described the home as a total loss.
Huska further explained, “The big problem is our firefighters had to lay on the ground because we had to put one guy to take care of those firefighters because we still had a job to do. We still didn’t know if there were people in this building. We had to stop it from spreading to other structures… We’re lucky we didn’t kill two firefighters.”
Media Information:
Address: Sandwich, Massachusetts
Phone: (866) 598-1315
Url: http://TaraMonks.visionsmartnews.com/sandwich-massachusetts-fire_575.html
