Amanda McGregor
SALEM -- Dark gray smoke plumed into the sky over South Salem yesterday morning as firefighters battled a stubborn blaze that destroyed a century-old carriage house and tied up the Fire Department for 5<1/2> hours.
Firefighters looking out the window of Engine 5 on Loring Avenue around 8:30 a.m. were the first to spot the smoke in the area of Lafayette Street. Throughout the day, the fire reignited in the rafters and joists of the two-story cottage.
"It kept lighting up -- we had to take the whole roof off and remove the shingles with chain saws," Deputy Chief John Munroe said. "It probably started burning one or two hours before we even got there."
A Ford pickup truck parked in front of the carriage house caused firefighters to worry that someone was inside, but there wasn't. The floor partially collapsed early on, which prevented firefighters from attacking the blaze from inside.
"There was a lot of smoke, and all we could see was a big red glow," said fire Lt. Dennis Levasseur, the first to enter the burning building with firefighter John Roth. "There was a lot of heat, and the further we went in our knees were burning.
"We saw a piece of furniture leaning into a big hole in the floor, and that's when we backed off because we knew the floor was getting spongy and collapsing."
The owner of 418 Lafayette St., Stefano Picciotto, said he was inside his home | adjacent to the carriage house | when the fire broke out.
"I was asleep, and I heard a lot of noise so I came out and met the deputy fireman," Picciotto said.
The family used the carriage house; Picciotto said he kept books, furniture and other personal belongings there that were destroyed in the fire. Munroe said Picciotto told him that he had just eaten dinner in the cottage the night before.
Picciotto was brought to tears at the scene, and he held his face and turned away from the blaze.
All of the city's companies responded to the fire, dousing orange flames and the caustic smoke that poured from the roof.
"This was a really intensive manpower fire," Munroe said. "There was a lot of chasing the fire in the roof rafters, tearing the walls and ceilings apart, looking for hidden fire. ... I ended up sending three companies back to quarters to rest and fill up their tanks."
Firefighters trekked through the woods and hauled hoses through the slush to tackle the blaze from the front, back and side of the structure. There were no injuries, but Munroe was grateful the firefighters evacuated the building when they did.
"If (Levasseur and Roth) had gone in another foot where the floor was collapsing, we would've have some (injuries)," Munroe said.
Munroe said a wood-burning stove was in the basement of the carriage house, but he would not speculate on the fire's origin, which is under investigation.
The property is located at the lower end of Lafayette Street, near the Marblehead line, and from the backyard there is a distant view of the Rainbow Terrace neighborhood.
Picciotto said he bought the property 26 years ago. The grand white house and cottage were built around the turn of the last century, according to the city's online property assessment database. A long, gated driveway off Lafayette Street leads to the house.
No cars were in the carriage house, which had been fashioned with shelving over the doors and converted into a cottage, according to Munroe.
Firefighter Trigger Burke and Lt. George Croteau, members of Engine 5, were on duty at the Loring Avenue Station when they spotted the blaze. Engine 1 was the first company to begin dousing the fire, and Capt. Gerry Giunta's ladder company forced open the door so crews could get in, Levasseur said.
A Lynn ladder and an engine each from Beverly and Peabody provided coverage for Salem while crews were deployed to the fire, Munroe said.
"What was really working in our favor is that we had Engine 1 in service. It hadn't been in service in a while," Munroe said.
