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Canton family pressing on after
fire destroys their home
By Kathy Anderson
Citizen Staff
It all took
place in just a few horrifying minutes, but a two-alarm
electrical fire that nearly destroyed a Canton home on Tuesday,
February 16, did not destroy its occupants’ spirit of survival
and gratitude.
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The Notkin family’s home was
nearly destroyed by fire on February 16.
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At
approximately 10:11 a.m. that snowy day, the Canton Fire
Department responded to a call from a fire box near the burning
residence at 63 Trayer Road. Molly Notkin and her 18-year-old
son Mike were home while an HVAC repairman was working on the
family’s furnace.
“We were
hearing odd noises, and in the course of walking around the
house we heard a ‘pop’ and all of the fire alarms went off in
the house,” Molly said. “Mike and I were trying to see where the
fire was, then we saw a couch on the first floor on fire but we
couldn’t find the fire extinguisher.”
Molly, Mike
and the repairman ran from the house and Molly pulled the fire
box alarm at the side of the road. Although the house was built
in 1978, fire box technology has been used for 150 years and
according to the Canton Fire Department, is still one of the
quickest ways to summon the department. Molly then called the
Fire Department from her cell phone, but they were already on
their way.
“The call was
a two-alarm fire, which we responded with two engines and a
ladder truck,” said CFD Captain Andy Morgan. “Because the smoke
had risen into the attic, we received mutual aid from the
Stoughton, Norwood and Sharon Fire Departments with two more
engines and a ladder.”
While the
family escaped unharmed, they lost practically all their
belongings, including their beloved 18-year-old cat Patches. By
the time the fire department arrived, the home was engulfed in
smoke, flames were disgorging from a first-floor window, and
Molly said she couldn’t see any part of the house from the
street.
“The
firefighters told me that overall the fire was very, very hot
and it blew out some of the windows,” Molly said. Although the
firefighters were able to extinguish the flames, there was
little that could be salvaged. Patches was found asphyxiated
under one of the upstairs beds.
Seeing the
Notkins outside in the blustery, snow-covered street, one of the
family’s neighbors, Richard Woods, brought out coats and
blankets to keep them warm.
While the
damage to the house is still being assessed, the Notkins —
Molly, her husband Rick, Canton High School senior Mike and his
older brother Matt, a student at Roger Williams University, are
staying with friends in Canton.
“We will be
signing a lease on a rental house in Canton this week,” Molly
said. “We’ve been so fortunate to have good friends to stay
with, and since we are an interfaith family, our synagogue,
Temple Beth David, and the United Church of Christ, are holding
a joint ‘shower’ for us so we can have some things for our new
home.”
“People say to
us how horrible it was,” Rick said, “and it was, but we are
alive and safe. It’s like that line in the movie Finding Nemo,
‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”
Deputy Fire
Chief Scott Johnson said the cause of the fire is still under
investigation, but in the meantime the Notkin family has poured
their energy into forging a new start.
“It is so
unreal,” Molly said. “There are tons and tons of stuff for us to
do, but so many people have offered to help and the outpouring
from the community has been overwhelming.”
February 25, 2010
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