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February 1, 2008

Intense fire in Seekonk home kills 6 pets / photo

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
A victim of a fire at 239 County St. in Seekonk, holds onto a dog rescued by firefighters. The fire started at about 8:30 this morning, and left the home unihabitable. At least four residents were left homeless.

SEEKONK, Mass. -- Intense flames ripped through a County Street home this morning, displacing five residents and killing a dog and five pet birds.

Susan Saucier, a first-floor resident at 239 County St., told firefighters that she was in the kitchen at about 8:45 a.m. when she heard a popping sound in a bedroom and spotted the fire, which apparently ignited near a bed.

Saucier and second-floor tenants Fred and Carolyn Haney escaped before firefighters arrived. Homeowner Russell L. Governo Sr. and his teenage daughter were not home at the time.

The heavy fire smashed windows and quickly spread to a front enclosed porch, where it was fueled by combustibles including packing boxes and furniture, Seekonk Fire Chief Alan R. Jack said today.

The fire spread to the second-floor walls, and a long hallway to a second-floor stairway acted like a chimney, drawing smoke and heat upstairs, Jack said.

“There was just so much damage,” Jack said. “Doors were burnt of their hinges. It was pretty dramatic. There were bright orange flames.”

Jack pegged the damage at more than $200,000. “They lost pretty much everything,” Jack said.

Fire crews cut a hole in the roof to ventilate and attack the fire, Jack said. It took about 10 minutes to contain the blaze. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

It was the latest in a series of fires in the region over the last 48 hours, two of which were fatal.

-- Journal staff writer Meaghan Wims

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 4:50 PM | Permalink

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trudy | February 1, 2008 5:52 PM link

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