House, belongings destroyed in Blackstone fire

BLACKSTONE, Mass. (WHDH) -- A fire wasted no time as it raced through the walls of a Blackstone home Tuesday morning. Flames escaped through the roof and destroyed everything in its path.

Ten people lived inside the Main Street duplex -- six adults and four children -- all from the same family.

Neighbors tried to do what they could to help.

“We heard them outside yelling. The flames were coming out of the top of the house. It was crazy,” said Paulette Durling, a neighbor. “I just grabbed the kids and brought them in my house so everybody’s safe.”

The fire was raging when the Blackstone fire department arrived, but it made the fire easier to handle.

“It’s already opened itself up and exposed itself, so it’s a matter of surrounding and drowning,” said Chief Michael Sweeney of the Blackstone fire department.

The fire started from a wood stove on the first floor of the right-side unit.

“It apparently started where the wood stove pipe, and it was all legal pipe, went through the wall to the outside. Maybe there was a breach in there…That seems to be where it caught,” said Sweeney.

The top half was destroyed, leaving only jagged edges. The missing pieces smashed onto the ground below.

“These poor people. Everything they own is gone. I know the owner of the house was a veteran and all his paperwork and stuff. That’s all up in his house. That’s irreplaceable,” said Michael Riley, a neighbor.

The house is too dangerous to remain standing and will be torn down on Tuesday. No one who lives in the house is allowed to go inside to try and save any of their belongings.