25 Displaced After Fire At Stoughton Rooming House

STOUGHTON, MA — More than two dozen people were displaced after a fire ravaged through the Fieldbrook House on Washington Street Thursday morning. Firefighters were called to the 3-alarm fire at the rooming house around 1 a.m.

The fire started in a room on the second floor and spread to the hallway. Fire Chief Michael Laracy said the fire set off all four sprinkler systems and left water damage.

No injuries were reported. Fire officials said the fire affected 25 of the building's 27 residential units.

Stoughton, Easton, Canton and Sharon firefighters evacuated the building and extinguished the flames. Stoughton police also helped with the evacuation, which Laracy said had its own unique challenges because of the size and number of people in the building.

"It's a challenge because you have so many people exiting the building, but at the same time, you're exiting the fire," Laracy told Patch. "You go in each room and make sure everyone is out of the building. "We accomplished a lot of that through our local police department. We rely heavily on our partners here in town."

Laracy said the fire was out in about 20 to 30 minutes, but given the scene was not cleared until around 4:30 a.m. Besides checking for hot spots, the fact that the fire happened at a boarding house had its own unique challenges compared to a fire at a single-family home.

"When we have a single family dwelling fire, you're talking three or four residents," Laracy told Patch. "It's more manageable. "When you're dealing with an occupancy that's a rooming house, 27 units, there's a lot more organizing and planning to place the residents. Thankfully we had the Red Cross to help.

The American Red Cross worked with the Washington Street VFW and opened a shelter there to give fire victims a warm place to go.

Laracy was coordinating with the American Red Cross all night and didn't return to the station until after 7 a.m. He said that when fires break out at single-family homes, those residents often have family they can stay with. With a rooming house, the department had to make sure residents had hotels, blankets, food and any other amenities they might need.

Fire officials met with the building department and determined the building was not a total loss, but there was still significant damage. Laracy estimated the building sustained about $150,000 to $200,000 in damage.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Laracy said it was likely accidental and wasn't suspicious.