Children, adults forced to jump from 2nd floor window to escape Brockton house fire

BROCKTON, Mass — Multiple people were forced to jump from a second-story window to escape a raging house fire in Brockton Friday night.

According to Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli, seven people jumped from the window of the home on Montello St. before fire crews arrived around 10 p.m.

“When I got up to look at the window, I could see the flames in the reflection of the car,” said Myriam Legrand, who lives in the home with her partner and three young children. “I said, ‘oh my God we have to get out’.” Legrand said there was too much smoke to escape down the stairs, so she and her children were forced to jump from their second-story window.

“We broke the window out of my room and that’s when they were telling me to start dropping the kids out of the window, but I was so scared, so it took me a minute,” Legrand said. “Am I really dropping my kids out the window?”

BEMA on scene of a 3rd alarm fire in the area of 835 MONTELLO Street, we ask that everyone avoid the area. City of Brockton Brockton Fire and Life Safety Brockton Police Department Brewster Ambulance Service
Posted by Brockton Emergency Management Agency on Friday, April 7, 2023

One by one, Legrand dropped her children – including a 2 and a 3-year-old – into the waiting arms of neighbors and Brockton police officers below.

“It was a difficult choice,” Legrand said. “It was the right choice, the only choice basically, I had no other choice because we couldn’t get out,” Legrand said.

Chief Nardelli said, incredibly, no one was hurt.

“These are our bread-and-butter fires, we fight fires in these buildings all the time,” Nardelli said “These guys know how to fight fires in these buildings, they know how to search these buildings.”

The 14 people who live in the home are now left to pick up the pieces with just the clothes on their backs.

“It’s devastating, but at least we are alive,” said resident David Ayegba. “You see this on the news, but you’re part of the news now.”

Chief Nardelli said the fire likely started on the bottom floor then spread to the top two floors. The cause of the fire is under investigation..

#BREAKING Now in Brockton. Multi alarm fire on Montello Street. Stay tuned to Boston 25 at 11 for any updates! #Boston25 @boston25 pic.twitter.com/s9GtGog4Ef
— James Cullity (@JCullityNews) April 8, 2023