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January 2, 2008

Update: Fire strikes six-apartment house in Providence

Journal photo / Kris Craig
Providence firefighters work on the fire this afternoon at at 30 Pembroke Ave.

PROVIDENCE -- Fire heavily damaged a three-story, wood-frame apartment house on Pembroke Avenue this afternoon, destroying three of six units and leaving the building's 12 to 14 occupants without a home on a bitterly cold day.

It was not yet known how many people were in the 30 Pembroke Ave. building at the time of the fire, but no one was injured.

"I was so scared," said Anna Aguirre, 44, who lives in the building.

Aguirre said she got home from her work at AIDS Care Ocean State to find smoke and fire. She called 911 on her cell phone and started screaming at people to get out of the building. She ran to the window of her apartment, knocking on it to tell her 15-year-old son Juan to get out.

She could see an interior flashing alarm light from outside but said people seemed slow to come out.

The fire, which went to two alarms after the call came in at 3:22 p.m., began in the basement of the wood-frame with brick veneer building and shot to the roof, according to Assistant Fire Chief J. Curtis Varone. There was considerable smoke and water damage throughout, rendering the building uninhabitable.

One occupant told the fire department deputy assistant chief that he thought it was a false alarm because there had been a false alarm recently.

The Red Cross's Rhode Island chapter is helping the people who lived in the building with shelter, food and clothing.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 4:47 PM | Permalink

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