Massive blaze guts Brattleboro building
Toolbox
Times Argus Staff
Rutland Herald - Published: January 12, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — A dozen people are homeless and eight households temporarily displaced after firefighters from three states battled a four-alarm blaze in a downtown apartment building early Sunday.
Fire equipment from Brattleboro and eight surrounding towns in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts slogged through a snowstorm to respond to the 12:50 a.m. alarm at the 15-unit Lawrence Block on South Main Street.
Nervous neighbors in the dense residential district watched the flames shoot high above the wooden structure and felt the blistering heat as they warily eyed their own homes nearby.
The fire caused a loss of electricity and sent one man who relies on a plug-in oxygen machine to the hospital. However, officials said no one was injured in the blaze and although six apartments were destroyed, another nine appeared untouched and may be reoccupied after a safety check. Some 50 firefighters battled the blaze and brought it under control by 4 a.m.
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