Fire heavily damages home on Brockton's North side

By Maria Papadopoulos, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON— Chantal Palmer stood outside her Pleasantview Avenue home on the city's North side Sunday afternoon and surveyed the damage caused by a fire the night before.

Inside the home, family photographs and other items had been destroyed, and one of her four cats is missing, the 18-year-old said.

“We smelled smoke. Everybody started coming out. I saw a bunch of flames coming from the attic,” Palmer said while holding her black cat Shadow in her arms. “I was scared and started crying.”

No injuries were reported in the two-alarm blaze that displaced six adults ranging in age from 17 to 74.

The cause of the fire had not been determined by Sunday afternoon and remains under investigation, said Deputy Fire Chief Edward Mack.

Palmer said she placed a 911 call when she ran out of her house with family members late Saturday night. Her grandmother, Ida Brown, owns the house, she said.

The American Red Cross responded and placed the family at a local hotel Saturday night. Palmer said her family planned to stay with a friend Sunday night.

Firefighters responded to 16 Pleasantview Ave. after receiving an emergency call at 9:58 p.m. Saturday.

 When firefighters arrived, they saw heavy smoke billowing outside and flames tearing through the home.

“They discovered flames on the first and second floors,” Mack said.

“It did get up into the attic area. All three floors had fire at one point.”

It took firefighters 50 minutes to extinguish the flames, he said.

All utilities to the house were turned off.

“It was extensive damage to the structure,” said Mack, who could not estimate the cost of the damages.

Crews from Squad A, Ladder 1, Tower 1 and engine companies 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 responded to the fire, with the last piece of apparatus clearing at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

The state fire marshal's office and Inspector George Kropas of the Brockton Fire Prevention Bureau also responded.

The fire pulled mutual aid from the Whitman and Stoughton fire departments to cover Station 2 on Main Street and Station 3 on North Main Street, respectively.

A second fire was reported in the city at 10:25 p.m. Saturday at 100 Perkins Ave.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which originated from a microwave inside an apartment at Walkover Commons, Mack said.

“It was quickly extinguished,” he said.