WTOL.com, Toledo's News Leader, News 11 | Flames Consume Home on Boston Place

Flames Consume Home on Boston Place

TOLEDO -- The smoke was so thick, neighbors first thought it was fog rolling in. Turned out, a house caught fire around 5:30 Wednesday afternoon at 367 Boston Place -- and the flames soon threatened other homes.

Neighbors said they heard a loud explosion and ran outside only to find the fire shooting out of the Boston Place home. People were still in the homes next door.

"This is a horrible thing," said Mark Canty as he watched firefighters douse the home where his mother and grandmother lived, right next door to the house that was ablaze.

It could have been worse. It could have been a total loss," said Canty. "I thank the (firefighters) for doing a good job," he told our cameras.

Canty is also thankful for Nancy Loftin and Merrill Scheanwald who live two doors down. They rushed to his mom and 100-year-old grandmother. "Trying to get both of them out, I wanted to make sure we got them out -- and tried not to get them too excited so they would get stumbling and fall," said Loftin.

They women got out okay, but the flames kept dancing. Wind carried the fire to the home of another next-door neighbor at 405 Boston Place. An older man, Jimmy Barnes, was still inside.

"I tried to get him out," said neighbor Fred Johnson. "But the man was on dialysis and I couldn't get the door open -- but the police kicked the door open and brought him out safely," he added.

Firefighters told us the homes in that neighborhood are tightly spaced. "They're very close together," said Fire Chief Mike Bell. "If you look up and down the street, it's very hard to get our units up in here," he added.

"You get a fire like that, the other neighbors' houses are going to be in jeopardy, too," said neighbor Troy Jackson. That's one reason neighbors knew they needed to get to their friends quickly.

"You just kind of act and do what you gotta do," said Scheanwald. He told News 11 the neighbors work together when there's an emergency. "We've had to shore houses up and the neighborhood just gets together and pulls and comes all together," he told News 11 when describing the neighbors' response to house fires and flooding.

That's also one reason why, despite the flames and their home being threatened, Canty's family is staying put. He told us they "ain't going nowhere." Canty added, "Burn down to the ground, we build it right back up."

Fortunately for Canty's family, it appears that home did not catch fire. It does have some water and smoke damage that insurance will have to cover.

There was one injury because of the flames. Fire officials told us a firefighter had minor burns in what was a major fight to save as many homes as they could.

So far, firefighters do not know what started the fire. Initial reports do not indicate it's suspicious, but investigators are still sifting through the rubble.

Chief Bell said the man who owns the house was not inside at the time.