'Stubborn' Stoughton house fire displaces family of five

Namu Sampath, The Enterprise
·1 min read
1

STOUGHTON – Firefighters responded to a "heavy fire" that started in the basement of a single-family home on Holbrook Avenue on Wednesday evening, Stoughton Fire Chief Michael Carroll said.

About 6:30 p.m., firefighters received a call about a fire at 40 Holbrook Ave., and four minutes later, they arrived on scene where the five residents of the home had safely evacuated.

"The fire had started in the basement, but upon arrival, had become heavily present in the back of the house and had risen over the roof," Carroll said. "We extended the hose to the back and put out most of the fire within 20 minutes."

Carroll said the fire department was still on scene for two-and-a-half hours after putting out the original flames due to "hot spots" that persisted throughout the structure of the home.

Stoughton firefighters break off sections of the roof of a house at 40 Holbrook Ave., looking for hot spots and smoke from within the roof and walls on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.
Stoughton firefighters break off sections of the roof of a house at 40 Holbrook Ave., looking for hot spots and smoke from within the roof and walls on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023.

"The fire was stubborn," he said. "It took a long time to overhaul the fire to make sure it was all put out."

The family of five, including a husband, wife and their three children, were offered assistance by the Red Cross following their displacement, however, according to Carroll, they opted to stay with family instead.

Real estate report'Absolutely amazing': Middleboro Victorian Colonial 'that has it all' sells for $1M

According to the chief and the state fire marshal, the fire was presumed to be caused by an electrical mishap – "either due to the heavy machinery in the family's basement or due to ground water which had potentially overloaded the circuits," Carroll said.

"However, there were no injuries, and everybody made it out safely," he said.

A Brockton ladder, Sharon ladder, Avon engine and a Canton engine provided mutual aid.

Staff writer Namu Sampath can be reached at nsampath@enterprisenews.com, or you can follow her on Twitter @namusampath. Thank you, subscribers. You make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Brockton Enterprise.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Stoughton house fire at 40 Holbrook Ave. displaces family of five