UPDATE: A man has died of injuries sustained in Friday’s fire in Oxford that sent 5 to the hospital
A man has died due to injuries sustained during a massive house fire in Oxford on Friday. According to the Worcester District Attorney’s office the man has been identified as 38-year-old Jesse Lamoureux.
A family of four and a police officer were rushed to the hospital Friday morning after flames were seen shooting through the roof of a home on Leicester Street.
“I heard a couple of big pops and jumped out of bed,” said Rose Lawless, who lives across the street.
Neighbors on Leicester Street in Oxford were woken up by this three-alarm house fire.
“Just total flames, that whole house was totally going up and I was horrified,” said Brian Holbrook.
The flames broke out around 12:45 Friday morning. Oxford Fire and several surrounding towns responded.
“My whole house was all lit up,” said Lawless.
Oxford Fire Chief Laurent McDonald says Sergeant Michael Gifford was first to get to the scene and the house was already engulfed in flames. A family of four was inside, doing anything to get to safety.
“The uncle was on the second floor, had to jump from the building, he had encountered heavy fire,” said Oxford Fire Chief Laurent McDonald. “He had burns to about 70% of his body.”
With so much smoke surrounding the home, Sgt. Gifford located Lamoureux lying on the ground and grabbed a tarp allowing him to roll Lamoureux onto it and drag him fifty feet away from the home to keep him safe.
“The actions of Sergeant Gifford might have given this man a better opportunity to survive this tragic event,” said Chief Anthony Saad.
Gifford also had to be rushed to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.
“The mother and the two children were transported for smoke inhalation and possibly for some minor burns to the woman,” said Chief McDonald.
By the time firefighters got there, the second floor had collapsed onto the first floor.
“There was already major destruction to the stability of the building, we couldn’t make entry and obviously with the subsequent floor collapse, we can’t operate inside,” said Chief McDonald.
The fire chief says issues with one of the fire hydrants also made this a challenging fire. The chief believes the flames may have broke out on the first floor and quickly spread. The home is now destroyed, but not all is lost.
“Just glad everybody’s still alive anyway,” said Lawless.
Oxford police tell Boston 25 News Sgt. Gifford who was taken to the hospital is now recovering at home. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The chief says there were working smoke detectors in this home.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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