LEOMINSTER, Mass. — An alert neighbor on Lincoln Terrace spotted a glow through his window early Tuesday morning and then looked outside and saw a flame shooting up the side of the building.
"It was like a red, glaring light through my window," Kevin Roper said.
Roper says he called 911 and rushed outside to bang on the door of his neighbors' multi-family home.
"I told them it was a fire, the building’s on fire, just to get out," Roper said.
His alert helped six people, including a pregnant woman, make it out of the home safely, along with all of their dogs.
A firefighter and woman who lived in the home were sent to the hospital as a precaution with minor injuries, said Leominster Fire Chief Robert Sideleau.
The fire was elevated to a second alarm and more crews from neighboring towns were brought in to help battle the blaze as a water issue made the initial fight more difficult, said Sideleau.
Much of the roof collapsed or burned away and the State Fire Marshal was seen entering the building Tuesday morning.
It was a close call that might have been much worse without the help of an alert neighbor.
"If I was asleep, I don’t know what would've happened," said Roper, "I would just hope somebody does it for me if I was in that situation."
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
