IPSWICH — The Ipswich Fire Department and mutual aid partners extinguished a fire in a multi-unit townhouse building on Saturday evening and rescued a pet cat from the flames.
On Saturday, March 7, at approximately 5:56 p.m., the Ipswich Communications Office began receiving 911 calls reporting an outside fire that was threatening a structure at 5 Rosewood Drive.
Firefighters from Ipswich and Rowley responded immediately and arrived to find heavy fire spreading on the front of a five-unit row of attached townhouses. Ipswich Engine 4, under the command of Lt. Brett Emerson, declared a working fire and immediately attacked the flames on the front of the building using a handline. Flames on the front of the building were knocked down, but they had already begun to spread into an attic space.
Firefighters then made an aggressive, interior attack on the fire, and found that a sprinkler system activated inside the building and helped to keep flames from spreading through the inside. Firefighters vented the building’s roof and were able to get the fire under control in about two hours. A pet cat was rescued from the building during firefighting operations.
The unit where the fire originated sustained significant fire damage. Residents of that unit were displaced and are receiving assistance from the Red Cross of Massachusetts.
Residents of the building’s other four units were able to return once the fire was out and carbon monoxide was ventilated. There were no reported injuries.
Firefighters from Rowley, Topsfield and Essex provided mutual aid at the scene, while firefighters from Manchester-by-the-Sea and Georgetown covered Ipswich fire stations. Ipswich Electric Light also provided support at the scene and cut power to the building.
All firefighters cleared the scene by 9:30 p.m.
“The decisive actions of the first due engine, coupled with the activation of the residential sprinkler system, saved this building,” Chief Parisi said. “If this building was not equipped with a residential fire sprinkler system, the fire’s forward progress would have caused significantly more damage, and likely impacted adjacent units. We greatly appreciate our mutual aid partners, particularly Rowley who responded automatically to this fire. Having a second engine respond so quickly makes a meaningful difference.”
The fire does not appear to be suspicious. It remains under investigation by the Ipswich Police and Fire Departments, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit attached to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
