PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WHDH) - Firefighters battled through smoke and flames to rescue two boys and their grandmother trapped in their Pawtucket home by a blaze.
“I started seeing flames coming out of the house. I whipped around the corner. I called 911,” said witness Gwendolen McGlinchey.
A Fire Prevention Officer was the first on the scene Wednesday night and noticed people trapped on the third floor of the house.
The officer helped the boys escape the house’s third story window onto a fire escape, and firefighters brought them down ladders, but witnesses said the grandmother was still inside.
“The grandma pushed them, were pushing them out of the window, and she got stuck up in the house,” said McGlinchey.
Firefighters eventually rescued the grandmother and took her to the hospital.
“Most of the top floor was engulfed by the time they were able to get her out,” said a witness.
McGlinchey was told that the family was sleeping on the third floor but that the first and second floors were unoccupied.
Firefighters managed to get the fire under control after multiple hours. However, the flames did heavy damage leaving a hole in the roof of the home.
“There’s a lot of material inside the house that we have had to dig through to get the fire put out and get the smoldering,” said one of the firefighters.
Officials said the two boys are okay, but the grandmother is still in the hospital recovering.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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