Crews battle fires in Worcester, Templeton, Spencer

Crews battle fires in Worcester, Templeton, Spencer

By Samantha Allen, Paula J. Owen and Kim Ring
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Jul. 3, 2015 at 2:04 PM
Updated Jul 3, 2015 at 8:02 PM

Firefighters battled house fires in Templeton and Spencer and a small but hazardous industrial fire at the Wyman-Gordon Co. building on Madison Street in Worcester on Friday.

Gardner Fire Chief Richard Ares and an EMT from Templeton were injured fighting the blaze at 165 North Main St., Templeton, a fire official confirmed.

A Life Flight helicopter took the chief, 59, to UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus in Worcester. The chief was initially unconscious after falling 8 feet from a deck onto pavement when a railing let go, but he was later conscious and alert and his injuries are not life-threatening, the official said. Gardner Mayor Mark P. Hawke later posted an update on social media, saying the chief needed 10 staples for a cut on his head. The EMT suffered possible smoke inhalation and was taken to Heywood Hospital in Gardner.

Templeton Fire Chief Raymond LaPorte said the single-family home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived around noon. Chief LaPorte said the fire started accidentally, but would not give details about how it started. He said homeowner Walter Haskins' Chihuahua-terrier mix died in the fire, which was extinguished by midafternoon.

Michele L. Anderson, 44, who lives across the street, said Mr. Haskins is in his 70s and lived alone. His wife, Janet Haskins, lives in an apartment in Gardner. She said Mr. Haskins will stay with her.
"They are such sweet people," she said. "They don't have anything now. It is devastating. Waldo (his dog) was like his kid."

Chief Ares was knocked through the rail and off the porch from the pressure from the hose he was holding when he tried to enter a side door, Ms. Anderson said. She said the chief's head was wrapped up when he was put in the ambulance.

At the 1 p.m. fire at Wyman-Gordon, Worcester firefighters were forced to stand by outside as volatile titanium burned for more than an hour.

District Fire Chief Frank DiLiddo said crews working inside Wyman-Gordon noticed the fire started in materials made of titanium. The metal pieces were kept in a large, 100-pound tote container, he said. Personnel were able to rush the materials outside into the middle of a paved road before the fire spread. The Worcester Fire Department prepared to put out the flames, but had to back off after learning the material included titanium.

“It’s a very dangerous situation,” District Chief DiLiddo said. “You can’t use water on (burning titanium) because it can cause the metal to explode.”

Titanium burns at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, he said, and crews needed dry materials like sand and other chemicals to safely extinguish the flames. He said the materials were unavailable Friday afternoon, so firefighters had to wait for the flames to die down on their own.
In Spencer, Jason McKeon said it was Kit-Kat, an aging feline yowling in a second-floor window, that alerted him to the fire at his 6 Woodland Lane home Friday afternoon.

Mr. McKeon, working in the yard about 1:45 p.m. when the fire was reported, raced back inside to save the cat and his dog from his second-floor apartment. The house was destroyed.
Firefighters said that when there's an arson, the culprit is usually at the scene, and Kit-Kat is Mr. McKeon's prime suspect in the three-alarm blaze.

"I think she started it," Mr. McKeon said. "The stove was on fire and I tried to throw a wet blanket over it, but it didn't work. She was in the window right near the stove. I think she might have stepped on the knob and turned it on."

Fire Chief Robert P. Parsons confirmed the fire started in a second-floor kitchen, but no cause had been determined. He estimated the damage at $100,000 and said the response time for firefighters was about 10 minutes because of the remote location near the Leicester line. He called the house a "total loss," given the damage to the second floor.

As for Kit-Kat's possible role, an investigator said she's not high on their list of suspects despite her owner's suspicions. The cause remains under investigation.