BROCKTON, MASS. (WHDH) - A person was forced to make a desperate leap from a second-floor roof to escape a fast-moving blaze in Brockton late Monday night that left a building seriously damaged and eight people without a home.
Crews responding to a reported structure fire at a multi-use building with a convenience store on Warren Avenue around 11 p.m. found heavy smoke and flames coming from the three-story building, according to Brockton fire officials.
A neighbor told 7NEWS that a woman who lived on the building’s third floor was able to climb through a window before dropping down from the second-floor roof onto concrete below.
“As soon as I’d seen her, she just fell down,” Antonio Santos said Tuesday morning. “She tried to grab some things, just to jump – she was a little scared to jump so she just fell.”
Santos said he was able to contact the woman and speak with her while she was at a local hospital. He told reporters that after the fall, she was feeling better as her recovery continues.
Other residents at the home were able to return to the building and gather some possessions Tuesday morning, with one resident telling 7NEWS she had lost everything in the blaze.
It was a similar story for the Bud’s Variety store on the structure’s first floor.
“We lose the business – they said it’s about one year to fix it,” an employee said.
By midmorning, efforts to remove debris from the site was in full-swing as workers boarded up the building’s windows. Meanwhile, neighbors say they’re just concerned about the families who are now without a home.
“I feel bad for all of the families,” Santos said. “They’re very good people.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The American Red Cross is assisting those displaced.
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