LAWRENCE — A woman searching for her cell phone under her bed with a cigarette lighter ignited a three-alarm fire that destroyed two three-deckers on Greenwood Street and left 22 people homeless early this morning, fire officials said.
“That is the preliminary cause,” Fire Chief Peter Takvorian said, calling the fire accidental, as he stood on the street outside 99-101 Greenwood St.
There were no injuries reported in the fire, but an elderly man thought to be a resident of 99-101 Greenwood St., collapsed and was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, fire officials said.
The fire spread from that address to the three-decker at 95-97 Greenwood St., Takvorian said.
It was the second major fire in the city this week. On Monday, a mother and son died in a fire at their home at 15 Leeds Terrace in South Lawrence.
Takvorian said the fire began in the rear of 99-101 Greenwood St. then spread to 95-97 Greenwood St.
When firefighters arrived on the scene after the first alarm at 5:01 a.m. they made sure everyone was out of both buildings then focused their efforts on fighting the fire from outside the buildings in order to protect the other buildings in the area.
That area of Greenwood Street is closely packed with three deckers, some separated by only the width of an alley,” Takvorian said.
He said he didn’t know if either of the buildings were salvageable, but noted both received heavy fire damage to the third floor and roofs, and smoke and water damage throughout. He said there portions of the back side of both buildings were collapsing.
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