Investigators say careless smoking started apartment fire
Alternative content
Woonsocket Fire
A fire sweeps through a Woonsocket apartment complex.
NBC 10
It took firefighters two hours to knock down a fire that engulfed a multifamily home on East School Street in Woonsocket.
Published: November 11, 2008
Updated: November 11, 2008
WOONSOCKET, R.I.—Fire investigators said Tuesday that careless smoking caused a fire that engulfed a multifamily home in Woonsocket.
Flames broke out in the apartment house on East School Street at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. It took firefighters about two hours to get the fire under control.
No one was home at the time, but one family was left temporarily homeless.
Fire Chief Kenneth Finlay said the home’s central heating system allowed the flames to spread through ductwork.
“When it got to the attic, it just exploded across on us,“ Finlay said.
Two firefighters who became trapped by a falling ceiling managed to escape on their own.
Finlay said the apartment house had been placed under foreclosure and that only one family was living in the seven-unit building. The residents were scheduled to move out by the end of the month. They are getting help from the Red Cross.
Advertisement