BURLINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A fire tore through a home on Polk Street in Burlington Friday afternoon after spreading from a nearby wooded area, officials said.
The fire started as a brush fire around 12 p.m. in woods next to the nearby Wyman Elementary School’s parking lot. Officials said the fire then quickly burned into the home, sending a large plume of smoke over the area and keeping emergency crews busy on an already busy day of brush fire responses.
“It hit the side of the house and, all of a sudden, flames were coming out, shooting out,” neighbor Oscar Almaida said.
While some neighbors called for help, Almaida said others got out garden hoses and made sure a woman inside the house got out.
The woman was able to escape the home safely, though firefighters said the building is now destroyed.
“By the time we got here, it was already in the attic,” Burlington Fire Chief Andy Connerty said. “So, it was a defensive operation from the beginning.”
Flames in Burlington came after the National Weather Service’s Boston office issued a red flag warning early Friday morning, citing low daytime relative humidity and gusty winds as factors behind an elevated fire risk across much of southern New England.
With winds in the area, Connerty said crews had to make sure more houses in Burlington didn’t catch fire.
“All these homes are close together,” he said. “So, every house around here was in danger.”
While the reported brush fire was contained around 1 p.m., according to police, flames were still burning through the home when a SKY7-HD camera flew over the scene shortly afterwards.
By 2:20 p.m., the department said in an update that the fire had been extinguished.
In a statement later Friday afternoon, fire officials said flames compromised a gas line to the house, which began feeding the fire.
Officials said the fire ultimately grew to two alarms. Fire departments in Woburn, Billerica and Bedford all provided aid at the scene.
School was in session at the Wyman School at the time of this fire. Students were not evacuated since wind was blowing away from the school itself.
Still, fourth grade student Chloe Corser said the school’s principal delivered a message over the loudspeaker to let students know what was happening.
“She said that we couldn’t go outside for any extra recess or anything because we didn’t want to breathe in any of the smoke if it was coming over the school,” Corser said.
Corser said she could see the smoke from her classroom window.
“I was a bit nervous because that’s the direction my house is in,” she said.
Corser said she is grateful her house was okay, though her family’s thoughts are with their neighbor who lost her home. Other neighbors added that they were still stunned by the speed with which this fire developed.
“What surprised us was how quick it moved — how fast it happened,” Almaida said.
The woman who escaped from the fire said she has family to stay with, adding that she will be okay.
Burlington officials said this was the third brush fire they responded to on Friday.
Outside Burlington, crews responded to multiple other brush fire incidents in communities including Weston and Braintree.
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