No one was injured in a two-alarm fire at a Lenox Street apartment building Sunday night that resulted in $50,000 in damage.
The Norwood Fire Department is investigating the blaze that broke out in the basement of the building at 48 Lenox St.
While firefighters were originally called complex at 10:08 p.m. for an alarm and smoke in the basement of the building, they found that a resident in apartment 9 had a grease fire in their kitchen that spread to the kitchen exhaust fan, according to George Morrice, a spokesman for the Norwood Fire Department.
As of 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, workers for ServiceMaster, a company that helps repair carpets after fire damage, were working in the fire-damaged apartment on the bottom floor of the brick apartment building complex. Employees of the building’s management company Murphy Management were also surveying the damage and working on the apartment.
“The Fire Department is investigating it,” said Gary Murphy, who works for Murphy Management, outside of the building on Monday afternoon. “It was just something that happened in the kitchen and that’s all they know at this point.
Morrice said firefighters arrived less than three minutes after the call to find light smoke in the basement.
But Morrice said firefighters from Ladder 1 also noticed heavy smoke coming from the rear part of the roof. The Norwood Police Department told Fire Capt. Kevin Romines at the scene about the grease fire one hour earlier. The resident in apartment 9 had put out the grease fire himself and did not know the fire spread.
“Captain Romines immediately ordered the ladder one crew to the apartment over the grease fire area, where they encountered heavy smoke and residents still in the apartment building and included a second alarm,” said Morrice in an e-mail. “Firefighters Mike Carr and Mike Motta quickly gathered the apartment residents, one who was blind, and assisted them out of the heavy smoke conditions of their apartment.”
After removing the kitchen exhaust fans in apartments 9 and 11, Morrice said firefighters found heavy fire traveling in the walls and brick voids of the units.
“All residents were evacuated while engine company members worked hard, eventually bringing the fire under control,” said Morrice.
Fire departments from Walpole, Westwood and Mansfield assisted the department at the scene. Foxborough and Wrentham fire departments provided station coverage to the Norwood Fire Department while crews battled the blaze.
While the fire didn’t result in any injuries, Morrice said the American Red Cross was notified to assist residents who could be displaced from their homes due to the fire.
Staff writer Chloe Gotsis can be reached at 781-433-8339 or at cgotsis@cnc.com.
