Historic mansion heavily damaged by massive 5 alarm fire in Northbridge, Massachusetts

A massive fire tore through a 23-bedroom historic mansion in Northbridge, Massachusetts.
The fire at the Whitin Lasell Manor, which is more than 100 years old, started just after 1 a.m., fire officials said.
7 people were living inside the manor that has stood on Hill Street since 1890. All escaped safely.
Firefighters encountered heavy flames on the second and third floors of the manor when crews arrived. 2nd and 3rd alarms were quickly struck bringing in mutual aid to the scene. The fire eventually grew to 5 alarms.
The building with wood frame construction has many void spaces allowed the fire to spread rapidly causing firefighters to fight the blaze defensively. It took almost 3.5 hours to bring the fire under control.
No injuries were reported. The town highway department salted the fireground as temperatures dipped into the mid teens, making operations at the scene very slippery.

[@jurgenkuhlmann9194]

So sad that this is again a vintage building that is gone! I really would like to find out whether they will reconstruct it, given the extensive damage by the fire itself and the amount of water needed to put it out. But chances are that this structure is on the National Register, making a decision a bit easier. Good luck & all the best from Germany!

[@gregsatterly9412]

I am so sorry for your loss!!! That was such a beautiful home!!! To anyone building or remodeling a home please look at installing sprinklers in your home. I just had my home built and had sprinklers installed. I put in a zoned system. It also saves quite a bit on your homeowners insurance. Seeing such a beautiful home burn truly breaks my heart!!!

[@ronfreniere8769]

Glad that everyone was able to get out in time, and that there were no injuries to anyone related to this incident. Thank you to all firefighters everywhere for protecting the citizens of your coverage area.

[@user-ku7xz7hr2t]

Great footage it’s a shame for the home owners. Look how close the firefighters are to the flames. Devastating for the homes that are lost 🥺🥺🙏🙏

[@tomp8871]

This hit Boston news where I saw it. Hate to see old houses go up.

[@pamhofmeister2531]

Glad everyone got out. Sad it burned. God Bless all the responders...🤗🤗

[@owensweetland342]

Solely as an observation wouldn't it be beneficial to use a master stream on the "D" side?

[@Bobbyd0052]

SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF PROPERTY ! GREAT JOB SPARKY,AS ALWAYS ! 🇺🇸

[@notthatdonald1385]

Excellent work firefighters! The entire structure could have been lost.

[@46fd04]

It is lost. Smoke, fire, heat and water killed it. It will be torn down.

[@deborahsoucy2884]

Excellent video Thank you fot filming --- Debbie

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Great footage.

[@donbrinkman2701]

Great job Matt

[@dongelinas5990]

Excellent coverage

[@gazzacroy]

oh boy what a shame looks like a really nice house too but pleased everyone is ok and well done for not letting it burn to the ground. it mite be fixable

[@BerniePearson]

Hopefully everyone stays safe

[@krakatoa8701]

Nice video Matt. Shame that place burned. Feel terrible for the owners. That building was huge. Wonder how many rooms in that place. Bought a good number of your old DVD's in the past. Glad to see your out there.

[@HobbyOrganist]

oit had 89 rooms and it was a rich google engineer who bought it in Nov and now burned it down...

[@matttwomey8554]

It had 23 bedrooms. It was on the National Registry. Not sure about this comment above so much. Considering an art association owned it and relied on donations to stay open.

[@matttwomey8554]

​@@HobbyOrganistfunny but not true at all.

[@matttwomey8554]

The website is called Estate Of Mind if you would like to look it up.

[@Igloo3471]

​​@@matttwomey8554interesting that they were posting about being in a dire financial crisis three weeks ago and looking at a possible exit strategy should they not recruit ten more residents and or $150k in the short term to survive there.

[@codysgrindinggearsgarage]

It's really sad to see another 1800s house half gone I'm wondering how this fire Started in the first place but i hope they can rebuild it.

[@thephantomeagle2]

What a heck of a job. they likely saved it.

[@denisek292]

Great job videoing this fire, and really great job to the fireman, who were in a “David vs. Goliath” situation. I can’t imagine the logistics and danger that are involved in fire-fighting on a huge 3-story mansion. Glad everyone got out, and hope every firefighter is safe….exhausted, no doubt, though. Thank you and every fire-fighter for their hard work! By any chance, did you ever work in Alabama, because your name looks so familiar?

[@sparkywfd]

Thank you and I have not. Born and raised in this area

[@denisek292]

@@sparkywfd Y’all are good people…have a close friend that lives in Foxboro!

[@sparkywfd]

@@denisek292 small world!

[@user-gg1mq9nl2f]

Why no ladder pipe operation,

[@Johnny64ism]

i saw a few ladder pipes being used watch it again

[@paulladuke2259]

Hydrants or tankers, Matt?

[@sparkywfd]

plenty of hydrants

[@BenjaminEsposti]

That's such a shame, look the place up on google images.

[@fireaxeco1]

Was there an interior attack at all on this fire??

[@sparkywfd]

yes but crews were driven back by heavy fire conditions

[@NickiBratz]

And yet again no one asks how it started 🥴 Thatz how we learn 🙄

[@HobbyOrganist]

1:00 am is almost certainly going to be a defective space heater or overloaded extension cord going to one

[@user-ku8ef6qz7u]

EVIL RICH PEOPLE GET PUNISHED

[@jimkeappock7558]

No ladder pipes, No Tower Ladders?

[@matttwomey8554]

They were there and operating. At around 14:00 you could see a ladder pipe flowing water and a second ladder working on the roof. A tower got to the scene around 13:00. Looks like they may have been operating on the Charlie side if that helps.

[@owensweetland342]

Were there companies in the building or was this fought solely from the exterior?

[@sparkywfd]

initial interior attack but got driven out due to the heavy fire load

[@owensweetland342]

@@sparkywfd wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. Kudos to your video.

[@TomManning-cs4el]

Saving the foundation 😂😂😂😂

[@rapman5791]

Northbridge FD doing what they do best. Saving foundations and reducing historic structures to ash and rubble. 🔥 🚒 Awesome camera work though, as usual 👍

[@rjkoeller4444]

That's about right , as a 20 year veteran firefighter I can't help but watch these videos and count all the mistakes and there were plenty . I think the biggest problem was these guys didn't know where to squirt the water , I saw them squirting the roof , chimney and siding , plus they were more concerned about the areas that were already burned and not stopping it from spreading to the rest of the house . There were many cringe moments , and no I'm not a recliner firefighter , as I said earlier I have 20 years experience and over 3,000 hours of training , you can never have too much training and it doesn't matter if they were full time or volunteer firefighters , the training has to be the same .

[@owensweetland342]

​@@rjkoeller4444you can never learn too much about a job that can kill you.

[@anthonygenga1702]

@@rjkoeller4444 I would love to hear your expert analysis of the mistakes that occurred during this fire and how you would have done things differently. Clearly you can make an informed assessment of what transpired simply by watching a minute and a half clip from a video. Please enlighten me!!!

[@mgratk]

@@rjkoeller4444 Well I have 40 years as a grand admiral super chief and and I have to agree. They didn't even use the octuple deck gun!

[@tylergoulding3364]

I would invite you to research a building fire in the past 15 years that Northbridge burned down to the foundation. The last historic building that you state burned down to ash and rubble was saved and they are restoring….

[@MichaelFerguson-ym3lr]

Take your time.....fire will put itself out....