Fire damages historic St. Johnsbury block
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Firefighters hose down buildings in St. Johnsbury, Vt., as Fire Chief Troy Ruggles, front, looks on, Friday, July 10, 2009. A six-alarm fire in St. Johnsbury broke out Thursday night, displacing nine families and injuring four firefighters. Ruggles says the blaze, which began about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, started in an apartment above a convenience store. It spread from the four-story brick building to three other buildings in the historic district. AP PHOTO/TOBY TALBOT |
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By LISA RATHKE The Associated Press - Published: July 11, 2009
At least eight families were displaced Friday by a six-alarm fire that swept through an historic downtown block of St. Johnsbury and injured four firefighters.
The fire broke out in a second-floor apartment above a convenience store around 10:30 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to the wooden back porch, up the rear of the building, and through the roof. It then ignited the building next door and the roof of the Passumpsic Savings Bank.
Firefighters worked through the night and into Friday battling the blaze. When they were done, the four-story brick building was gutted and three other buildings were damaged that included apartments and several businesses. Firefighters rescued one tenant by ladder from a fourth-floor apartment.
"We're just very lucky that nobody got hurt or killed," St. Johnsbury Fire Chief Troy Ruggles said.
Two ladder trucks continued to spray down hot spots in the center of the building where the fire started, as townspeople and tourists watched in the sun from the edges of the cordoned-off block.
Joseph Nagle, 26, who lives in an apartment next to the bank with his wife and 6-month-old son, was alerted by the sound of a fire truck's brakes.
"It was just me and my son in the house so I grabbed my son, knocked on my neighbor's door and got him out of the house, and by then the fire had grown to two, three, four times in size," he said.
They stood outside until about 2 a.m. Friday when they were told they couldn't get back into their apartment next to the bank because it was too hazardous, he said.
"I don't know what the (bank's) roof looks like, but it was burning pretty good, and it was getting closer that's for sure," he said.
The cause of the blaze was unknown Friday.
Fire investigators interviewed tenants, who were housed by the American Red Cross at a local hotel.
The most heavily damaged building, which had housed eight families, was leaning, raising fears that it might collapse. Ruggles expected a crane to arrive Friday to dismantle it.
Thirteen other people, who lived in adjacent buildings, were expected to eventually return to their apartments, said Tim Stetson, of the American Red Cross of Northern Vermont.
The four firefighters suffered minor injuries, including a sprained ankle and smoke inhalation, Ruggles said.
The fire was reminiscent of a 2000 fire that killed three men, destroyed two stores and left 27 people homeless.