Thursday, 4:30 PM
For Deaf Residents in Danvers Home, Powerful Vibrations and then Evacuation
By Kay Lazar and Leslie Anderson, Globe Staff
The fire was still burning at 6 a.m. at the CAI chemical plant in Danvers and emergency personnel filled the streets. But inside Danvers High School gymnasium, it was a far different and quieter scene.
Residents from the New England Homes for the Deaf, many of them frail elderly, had been brought to the temporary shelter at the gym. Aides communicated to them in sign language, explaining what had occurred and dispensing their early morning medications.
When the blast occurred about 2:46 a.m., Phyllis Berfield, a certified nursing assistant, was on duty at the residential facility, which is across the Danvers River from the chemical plant.
Berfield went upstairs, and found the residents had already started coming out of their rooms. She saw glass all over their beds.
"They're deaf, but they felt the vibrations," she said. "Their windows were all blown out."
The residents were surprised, but did not panic.
"They were asking what happened," Berfield said.
The facility is home to 84 people. Many of them were evacuated in wheelchairs. While 81 were brought to the high school, three were taken to the hospital because of their frailty.
The nonprofit that runs the facility was founded in 1901 and describes itself as the only agency in the eastern United States, and one of only two in the entire country, dedicated to meeting the needs of the elderly deaf.
All the residents are deaf or hard of hearing, and some are both deaf and blind, said Barry Zeltzer, executive director of New England Homes for the Deaf Inc.
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