WEBSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Fire officials are investigating a deadly blaze that raced through a multi-family home in Webster overnight.
Firefighters responding to a reported fire on High Street around 9:40 p.m. found a woman standing on the roof of the home as flames shot out of the side of the structure, according to Webster Fire Chief Brian Hickey.
The woman managed to make it to safety after a ladder was brought over by a neighbor, Hickey said.
Albert Stebbins says he witnessed the rescue mission.
“The police told her to jump to the roof and they’d catch her, but she was too scared,” he recalled, “so they ended up finding a ladder from someone down the street and got her out.”
Crews located a man on the second floor who could not be resuscitated, the Department of Fire Services said. His name has not been released.
Residents in the basement and first floor were able to escape.
One of the residents who lived on the bottom floor says the man who died had gotten his wife out on the roof and went back inside to save their cats.
There were no other reported injuries.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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