Florence fire leaves three people homeless: Officials suspect electrical wiring malfunction
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NORTHAMPTON - The front door had been sticking lately, so it was lucky for Lori Strolin, her son and their downstairs neighbor that someone came and kicked it open when their house caught on fire Wednesday morning.
"I woke up to pounding on the front door," Strolin said. "I didn't know what was going on."
Strolin said she never got a chance to properly thank her rescuer. He introduced himself before walking off into the night, she said, but she forgot his name in all the excitement.
The fire at 202 N. Main St. (Route 9) in Florence started sometime before 3:20 a.m. Sunday. Investigators don't know what caused the fire, but an electrical problem is the prime suspect, said Assistant Fire Chief Duane Nichols. The fire caused $300,000 in damage and left three people homeless.
Smoke detectors in the two-story house weren't working, Nichols said, though carbon monoxide detectors were functioning properly.
Loretta Roome and Eric Feinstein of Ithaca, N.Y., who were visiting friends two doors down, were awoken by the glow from the fire. They shot a video of firefighters tackling the blaze.
"It was like a scene from a Tarkovsky film," Roome said. "The whole structure was aflame ... I'm amazed the house next door didn't catch on fire."
Strolin said she, her 13-year-old son Benjamin, and downstairs neighbor Donald Emerson all inhaled a little smoke but made it out safely, as did her dog and Emerson's cat. Firefighters also managed to save two classic cars from the blaze.
VIDEO COURTESY OF ERIC FEINSTEIN
The fire was confined to the rear portion of the building, but smoke spread throughout the house, according to fire officials and a relative of the building's owner.
All of Strolin's possessions were damaged by smoke, and she said she regrets not buying renter's insurance. She said she'll be staying with a friend for the foreseeable future.
When Strolin went downstairs to answer the pounding at the front door, she found the landing full of smoke. Neither she nor Emerson, 68, could budge the door, she said.
She ran upstairs to wake Benjamin and tried to use a back door, but found that route blocked by even thicker smoke.
"The attic was on fire right above our beds, and the fire was coming down inside the walls," she said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.
Luckily by then the unidentified samaritan had forced the front door open, and everyone was able to get out safely.
Nichols said the fire investigation, mounted by his department and the state fire marshal's office, remains open.
"We're concentrating on wiring in the garage, but we can't be certain that will be the cause of it," Nichols said.
Investigators haven't ruled out the possibility that the fire was set deliberately, he said, but don't consider it likely. It's also still unclear whether the fire originated inside or outside the garage, he said.
The building is owned by Donald Emerson's sister-in-law, Marie Emerson. One of her sons, Thomas Emerson, said Donald would likely stay with family in the area.
Flames destroyed a two-bay garage and loft attached to the rear of the house, but firefighters were able to roll two cars out of the burning structure, across the driveway and onto a side lawn, Nichols said.
"Our crews tried to do as much as we could in terms of preserving property," he said.
Thomas Emerson said the cars, which date to the 1950s, belonged to his late father, William Emerson.
One, a cream and olive drab Studebaker Golden Hawk, emerged virtually unscathed. But the other, a turquoise Packard Four Hundred, had its paint discolored and windows cracked by heat from the fire.
"That's going to be a tough sell now," Thomas Emerson said, surveying the damage later Wednesday morning. "(My father would) probably have a heart attack now if he saw this."
The fire also destroyed a metal shed in the back of the building, which contained two riding lawn mowers and at least 12 tires, Thomas Emerson said. A maple tree overhanging the back of the building was partially singed.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control by about 6 a.m., Nichols said. A portion of Route 9 was closed until about 7 a.m. as fire crews finished their work, he said.
Located a short distance southeast of Look Park, the house is just a few yards from a fire hydrant.
Firefighters from Williamsburg, Amherst, Easthampton and Westhampton assisted, and the Hadley and Hatfield departments provided station coverage, said Capt. Stephen Vanasse.
The Pioneer Valley Red Cross provided canteen services to the roughly 45 firefighters at the scene, and offered food, clothing and lodging services to the displaced residents, according to a statement from the organization.
James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.
