MARBLEHEAD — A woman was hospitalized after a kitchen fire on Batchelder Road on Wednesday, but the Fire Department says the blaze could have been a lot worse.
The Fire Department responded to a 5:51 p.m. report of a stove fire at 4 Batchelder Road and determined that nothing was showing outside of the house. But when they went inside to investigate, they found the woman who had called them “black from smoke and soot,” Capt. Michael Porter said.
She was advised to leave the residence as firefighters armed with handheld extinguishers went into the kitchen and determined that they had a working fire on their hands — the stovetop blaze had been pulled by the force of a hood fan into cabinets and the wall, Porter said.
It didn’t take long for firefighters to extend a line and extinguish the blaze, but Porter said they were lucky to get the call when they did.
“It was a small fire,” he said. “A little longer ... and it would’ve been a totally different story.”
Porter said crews ventilated the house after knocking the fire down and had cleared the scene about an hour after arriving.
The woman was transported to Salem Hospital as a precaution.
Swampscott firefighters provided station coverage during the incident.
Lt. Adam Hatfield was the incident commander.
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