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January 2, 2008

Update: 3 people lose home in Woonsocket fire / Photo

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
Members of the Red Cross respond to the fire scene at 76 Larch St. in Woonsocket.

WOONSOCKET -- Three people were left homeless, but no one was hurt in a fire that severely damaged a Larch Street house today, Fire Chief Kenneth A. Finlay said.

State and local fire marshals were on the scene this evening still trying to determine the cause of the 11:30 a.m. fire at 76 Larch St.

Finlay said investigators were initially puzzled by the fire because the house had a conventional oil furnace for heat and the residents had not been using alternative heat sources, such as propane heaters, which are often the cause of house fires this time of year.

“We don’t have a specific cause yet,” Finlay said. “We’re still trying to nail it down.”

The Red Cross was helping the three residents find shelter and food, he said.

Only one person was home when the fire was reported at around 11:30 a.m. and got out safely, Finlay said. When firefighters arrived the saw “a large volume of fire and a large volume of smoke,” he said. The fire was brought under control about a half hour later.

Though the blaze was brought under control without any serious injury or incident, he said it took firefighters several hours more to be sure it was out. The two-story house is an old one that has been added on several times over the decades. It has many partitioned rooms with voids and spaces between walls that gave the fire places where it could still travel.

-- Journal staff writer John Hill

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:00 PM | Permalink

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