Firefighters from Peabody and Lynn were dispatched to 10 Caller St. at approximately 11 a.m. Tuesday, as heavy smoke could be seen pouring from the four-unit residential building.
By 11:48 a.m., a third alarm was rung as the fire scorched the building’s front facade. Resident Jessica Sheldon, who lives on the complex’s first floor with her boyfriend, Benjamin Martinez, and their six-month-old daughter, said she and her family promptly evacuated when they heard their upstairs neighbor yelling.
“He was screaming, you could hear the fear in his voice,” Sheldon said. “We opened up the door to the hallway and it was filled with smoke, and then from the stairs we could see the flames.”
Peabody Police officers were on scene helping residents evacuate.
According to Fire Chief Jay Dowling, the fire displaced seven residents. As of 12:15 p.m., Dowling said the fire had been mostly contained as firefighters continued to search for hotspots.
“It was a good knockdown by the fire crews,” Dowling said. “They did a real good job keeping it from spreading through exposures and keeping it to this building.”
Dowling said no cause has been determined yet, and that fire investigators and representatives from the fire marshal’s office will investigate.
