Melrose Firefighters Tackle Blaze at West Street Home

A wood-burning stove may have caused a single-alarm fire at a West Street home early Tuesday morning in Melrose, according to Captain Jim Winslow.

At 5:20 a.m. Jan. 21, firefighters responded to 7 West St. after the homeowner reported the blaze, according to Winslow. The homeowner was alerted to the fire after smoke detectors were activated inside the house, he said.

"He discovered a smoke condition in that area and had a pretty good idea of what was going on," Winslow said, explaining that the homeowner located the fire in a wall at the home. "He was able to feel the heat through the wall and he actually tried to extinguish it himself."

Winslow said firefighters had to "rip the plaster off the wall to get at it." The fire was extinguished quickly, he added.

"The fire was contained to one wall," he said. "There was a wood-burning stove, and the fire was in the wall where the flue goes out through."

Two Melrose Fire engines and a ladder truck worked the fire, while Malden and Saugus provided mutual aid, he said.

The homeowner was at home at the time of the fire, Winslow said, and no one was injured during the incident. The occupants were allowed to stay at the house, as it wasn't uninhabitable, according to Winslow.

The scene was cleared in about an hour, according to the fire captain.

In less than a week, two fires broke out in the same neighborhood, as there was a two-alarm blaze at a Bay State Road home on Sunday, followed by the West Street, a street off Bay State Road, fire on Tuesday.