Burlington Fire Department Extinguishes Two-Alarm Brush Fire That Spread to Home

BURLINGTON — Chief Andrew Connerty reports that the Burlington Fire Department and mutual aid partners extinguished a brush fire that spread to a home in high winds and dry conditions on Friday afternoon.

On Friday, April 7, at approximately 12:11 p.m., the Burlington Fire Department received 911 calls reporting a brush fire near 3 Polk St., in the area of the entrance to the Francis Wyman Elementary School.

The first arriving company found a brush fire being pushed up against the side of a single-family, ranch-style home at 3 Polk St., and requested a working fire assignment to the scene.

Dry air and wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour led the National Weather Service in Boston to issue a red flag fire warning on Friday. On scene in Burlington, those winds pushed the brush fire against the side of the home, where a gas line was compromised and began feeding the fire as well.

The gas-fed and wind-driven fire quickly spread throughout the home, forcing firefighters to attack the fire defensively from outside of the home, while simultaneously working to prevent the brush fire from spreading further. A second alarm was struck to bring more personnel to the scene.

Firefighters worked tirelessly to prevent the fire from spreading to a home that was under construction near 3 Polk St., and they were successful in those efforts.

A resident of the home was able to evacuate on their own. There were no reported injuries.

The home appears to be a total loss and a woman who lived there will be displaced. 

The cause remains under investigation by the Burlington Fire Department.

“Companies did a great job of stopping the spread of the brush fire as well as knocking down the structure fire and protecting all of the exposures,” said Chief Connerty.

Firefighters from Woburn, Billerica and Bedford provided mutual aid at the scene of the fire. Firefighters from Reading and Stoneham covered Burlington stations and responded to several medical calls and another smaller brush fire while the two-alarm fire was being extinguished.