Firefighter hospitalized after being struck by falling debris while battling Brockton blaze

BROCKTON, Mass. — A firefighter was rushed to the hospital after he was struck by falling debris while battling a blaze at a multi-level home in Brockton on Monday.

As firefighters worked to extinguish the fire at the home on Waverly Place and knockdown hot spots, charred debris broke loose from the home and crashed down on a firefighter below, hitting him in the head, officials said. The debris that fell appeared to be a piece of fascia near the peak of the roof that firefighters had been hammering with water.

The injured firefighter suffered “minor muscular skeletal injuries” and remained at a local hospital as of early Monday afternoon, Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli told Boston 25.

Barber John DePina, who together with a local police officer helped residents evacuate the burning building, saw the fire when it broke out near the shop where he works.

“We started seeing heavy smoke,” DePina said. “We thought for a second it was the restaurant.”

That smoke was actually coming from the Waverly Place triple-decker behind the restaurant.

Crews responding to a report of a fire at 9 Waverly Place around 11 a.m. found flames shooting from the second floor and extending up to the third floor of the home, said Nardelli.

“A lot of heavy fire on the porch got into the second floor ceilings, into the knee wall of the third floor and into the attic,” said Nardelli.

Nardelli said that there was an initial report of a person trapped on the third floor but firefighters quickly determined that a woman had escaped to safety.

Video captured by a Boston 25 News photographer showed the moment the wooden board struck the firefighter, causing him to collapse to the ground. His colleagues quickly rushed to his side and he was eventually stretchered off into an awaiting ambulance.

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Brockton Fire

Wind may have kept the fire confined to the front of the house. But that left tenants in the rear unaware the building was aflame.

Concerned some occupants might still be inside, DePina jumped a fence and, along with a police officer who happened to be at the scene, began an evacuation effort -- one that involved entering the burning house.

“I just broke the window,” DePina said. “I didn’t think twice. I just went in there. It was smoky, you could feel the heat.”

DePina and the unidentified police officer ran upstairs and down, banging on doors, until all six occupants were out.

“There was a baby, three ladies, a young girl and there was a guy,” he said. “They didn’t know it was a fire.”

That’s despite the fact the building’s smoke alarms had gone off -- and its sprinkler system was spraying.

DePina said he was just there at the right time. And no, he wasn’t scared -- something he owes to his previous occupation as a tower technician.

“I climbed towers for years -- 600, 400 feet in the air,” he said.

The house suffered significant damage. In all, nine people were displaced. None of them were hurt. Residents in the front of the house, where the flames started, were apparently not home.

“You know, I feel bad for the families,” said DePina. “They lost material stuff. But you can’t buy life. You can replace a couch, a TV, but you can never replace a life.”

De{Pina also knows a little something about the fragility of life. At 39, he’s in a battle to survive kidney disease. Twice a week, eight hours at a time, DePina undergoes renal dialysis.

“I’m hoping for a transplant,” he said. At last count, he was number 65 on the list.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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