PHOTOS: Two-Alarm Fire Tears Through Hancock Street Home

A two-alarm fire engulfed a Hancock Street home Saturday night and firefighters from Lexington and surrounding departments were forced to battle the blaze from the outside in.

Shortly before 8 p.m., the Lexington Fire Department responded to reported basement fire at 71 Hancock St. and found a large amount of fire climbing and poking through the back of the building.

So they struck a second alarm and received assistance from departments in Arlington, Bedford, Burlington, Hanscom Air Force Base and Waltham.

“Because of the large amount of fire that was here, we did have a second alarm, which brings in the other communities here to help us out,” said Lexington Fire Captain Bud Raithel.

Also because of the volume of the blaze, the fire-fighting was primarily exterior operations until the flames were subdued enough for firefighters to return inside the building until around 10 p.m.

After firefighters smashed out windows and vented the roof, Lexington ladder truck shot a stream of water straight down over the garage area and other areas of the roof were soaked with hoses in the front yard and roadway.

“With the large volume of fire, we weren’t able to get inside the structure initially because of the large amount of fire that was there, so we had to do exterior operations for a long period of time,” said Raithel.

Nearing 11 p.m., as operations switched into overhaul mode, LFD was working with members of the State Fire Marshall’s office, along with representatives from the electrical and gas companies, who were on scene to shut off all of the utilities to the home.

To that point, there had been no reported injuries to the occupants or firefighters, according to Raithel.