Firefighters from around the region battled a 3-alarm fire at the home of one of their own last night in the Worcester County town of Uxbridge.
The fire broke out at 7:19 p.m. at the duplex at 12a Hazel St., off North Main Street, steps from the Hannaford Supermarket, said Melanie Blodget-O’Toole, a spokeswoman for Uxbridge Police and Fire. A local on-call firefighter lived on one side of the two-family home with his parents, and a father with several children lived in the other apartment.
Two residents were transported to area hospitals with what Blodget-O’Toole called non life-threatening injuries. A firefighter was also hospitalized with smoke inhalation.
The fire destroyed the house and caused a gas leak in the neighborhood that forced six other homes to be evacuated last night, officials said. Blodget-O’Toole said most of the families would be allowed to return home within a few hours, but one house may remain evacuated overnight.
The fire burned for several hours, and water was still being poured on the ruins late last night.
Fire crews from Sutton, Douglas, Millville, Northbridge, Upton, Mendon, and North Smithfield, R.I. responded last night.
State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said that State Police from his office would be investigating the fire. It was too early to determine a cause last night, but Coan said, in a phone interview, that one angle of the investigation will be to determine of the fire caused the gas leak or if the gas leak sparked the blaze.
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