Crime & Safety
Lightning Ruled As Cause Of Fire That Destroyed Historic Home In Princeton
The fire that destroyed the former Princeton Inn was started by lightning, it was determined.
PRINCETON, MA—The cause of the early morning fire on May 2 at 30 Mountain St. in Princeton was a lightning strike, announced State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey and Princeton Fire Chief John Bennet. Lightning hit a large tree next to the large single family home, traveled down a metal chain, to a metal trellis, to another metal chain, to a wooden courtyard structure, and then ignited the side of the house.
The initial strike at 3 a.m. awoke the entire household. At about 5 a.m., just as everyone had settled back to sleep, one of the homeowners smelled smoke and heard what sounded like rain, said the announcement. She discovered the fire, pulled a fire alarm pull station (installed in the home when it was formerly the Princeton Inn). Then she got the rest of the family and pets outside to safety. The fire alarm monitoring company notified the Princeton Fire Department.
Because the fire started on the exterior, the woman’s early detection of the fire and fast action to evacuate the family was well underway before the interior smoke alarms first detected the danger. Chief Bennett said, “In a fire seconds count, so it is important to get out as quickly as possible. This woman may well have saved her family’s lives.” One firefighter suffered minor injuries.
The Princeton Fire and Police Departments and State Police assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal jointly investigated the fire.
The fire was in an old unsprinklered building with balloon frame construction. Once the fire was inside a wall it travelled unchecked to the roof. Despite a quick response from the fire department, the fire had a good head start. Twenty-two fire departments and the District 7 Tender Task Force provided mutual aid and assisted in a tanker shuttle from School House Pond to provide water to suppress the fire. Water tanker shuttles are a common tactic in rural areas where there is no municipal water or fire hydrants.
Ostroskey said in a statement, “Report any potential lightning strike to the fire department right away. Even if you see no evidence of a fire, one could be smoldering inside the walls or attic for a long time. This is the perfect use of thermal imaging technology to detect smoldering fires before they cause a lot of damage.”
Information was submitted by The Department of Fire Services
