LYNN, MASS. (WHDH) - Nearly a dozen people safely escaped a roaring blaze that destroyed a multi-family home in Lynn Friday morning thanks to an unlikely hero.
Mireille Prophete, a home health care aide, was just arriving at the Dorinda Circle home to assist a resident when she smelled smoke. A short time later, fierce flames started shooting from a window and Prophete rushed into action.
“No people downstairs and no people upstairs,” Prophete said. “They didn’t know there was a fire.”
Prophete began knocking on doors and was able to alert everyone inside to the dangerous situation, including Chrystell Exavier, who was sound asleep in a second-floor bedroom.
“When I saw the actual blazing, hot fire, I was just in shock,” Exavier said. “She saved a lot of lives. I don’t think she realizes that.”
Lynn firefighters initially responded to the two-and-a-half-story home for a report of multiple people trapped inside, but fortunately, that was not the case.
“Initial reports to us were that residents were trapped in the building. When we arrived they were all self-evacuating,” Lynn Fire Chief Stephen Archer said.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries while battling the blaze, Archer said. At least 10 people were displaced.
Prophete, grateful that no one was seriously hurt, downplayed her heroics.
“No, I don’t feel like a hero,” she said. “I say thank you, God.”
The home sustained extensive damage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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