UPDATED: Off-Duty Firefighter Saves Boy From Burning Home

Photo Credit: WHDH.com

UPDATED: Off-duty Melrose Firefighter Rob McVoy was driving home from work on Route 1 in Peabody around 5 Monday night when he saw smoke coming from a nearby house.

His firefighting instincts kicked in, he did a quick loop on Lowell Street, and called 911 to report the fire.

He located the burning house at 4 Broad St., and at first did not think anyone was at home at first.

“I banged on the door, and I heard someone inside,” Firefighter McVoy said. “I opened the the door and I told the kid ‘your house is on fire, we gotta go.’ The dog was barking, and I told him to grab the dog.”

Firefighter McVoy, 36, said the boy, who was about 12, had been just about to leave the house. He asked if anyone else was at home, and the boy told him there was no one else at home.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Firefighter McVoy said. “It was pretty intense.”

He stayed with the boy for awhile, but the boy was only wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, so he went across the street to go inside the motel to stay warm.

“The fire was going pretty good, 20-foot flames were shooting out of the house,” Firefighter McVoy said. “Peabody firefighters did an outstanding job getting that fire out.”

Peabody Deputy Fire Chief Paul Hinchion Engine 7 was the first engine to arrive. A second alarm was called.

“Capt (John) Hosman and his crew went right in,” Deputy Chief Hinchion said. Heavy fire was shooting out of the house, and a window in a second floor bedroom had already been blown out.

Battling the blaze proved to be extremely challenging because of the brutally frigid temperatures, deep snow drifts around the house and problems with low water pressure.

The hydrant near the house was dug out, but had very low water pressure, Deputy Chief Hinchion said. Water pressure kept dropping as firefighters worked, so some crews headed to a hydrant on Route 1 and started to dig it out. When they went to charge it, it turned out to be frozen.

Deputy Chief Hinchion said it the first hydrant ended up having enough water to put out the fire.

“The men did an awesome job under tough conditions,” Deputy Chief Hinchion said. He said the fire appeared to have started on the second floor, and gutted the second floor and attic.

The fire displaced a family of seven, and the American Red Cross was called to assist.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by local fire officials and the state fire marshal’s office.

“My heart was definitely racing,” Firefighter McVoy said. He has been a firefighter in Melrose for nine years, and before that, he served four years with crash, fire and rescue with the U.S. Marine Corps. He did not hang around; he headed for home to play with his 15-month-old daughter. “She’s my little peanut.”

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