6 adults, 5 children displaced after flames tear through triple-decker home in Woburn

WOBURN, MASS. (WHDH) - Flames quickly spread throughout a triple-decker home in Woburn early Friday morning, leaving six adults and five children displaced.

Crews responding to Sturgis Street around 4:30 a.m. found the fire initially discovered in the basement had started to engulf the entire structure, according to Woburn Fire Chief Stephen Adgate.

“The construction of the house probably allowed the fire to shoot up into the void spaces,” he said. “At one point there was heavy fire on all three floors, including the roof.”

Kathleen English, whose 81-year-old mother has owned the home for more than 40 years, was awoken by the sound of fire alarms.

“All the alarms were going off and the cellar was fully involved and the back shed,” she recalled. “It’s just a shock. It’s just unbelievable.”

English yelled at the residents upstairs to get out.

One child was taken to the hospital for possible smoke inhalation but is expected to be OK, Adgate said.

Firefighters were forced to attack the flames from above after the roof collapsed.

The house was deemed a total loss and will likely have to be knocked down.

Investigators say the fire was intentionally set.

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