Dryer fire kills Lexington mother

Warned by her shouts, 2 children flee

Neighbor Michael Strano recalls the deadly, two-alarm fire Friday night at the Brown home across the street from his in Lexington. Jordan and Kendall Brown sought help from Strano after fleeing the fire that killed their mother, Gena. (Photos by Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

LEXINGTON - A deadly fire that smoldered for hours while Gena Brown and her two daughters slept Friday night probably started in a dryer vent, according to state fire officials. The blaze killed Brown shortly before dawn after she shouted a warning to her girls to flee.

"She yelled to the girls to get out," said Fire Chief William V. Middlemiss at the scene yesterday morning.

Ten-year-old Jordan and 12-year-old Kendall scrambled out an upstairs window and across a rooftop before jumping off the garage roof, he said. The girls then ran to a neighbor's house across the street screaming for help.

The neighbor, Michael Strano, said yesterday that he called 911 while his wife comforted the girls. Firefighters arrived minutes later, about 5 a.m. Brown never made it out of the house, Middlemiss said, and firefighters found her body in her bedroom near the window.

Brown, 48, was an ultrasound technician at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Strano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he had moved into the neighborhood two weeks ago and did not know the family. His house is a 1 1/2-story Cape that mirrors the Brown's across the street.

"It's a terrible tragedy," he said. "It's just very sad."

State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said dryer fires are not uncommon in Massachusetts. In 2006, there were 87 such fires, 72 of which occurred in homes. Altogether the fires caused $500,000 in damage, he said.

While many were caused by mechanical malfunctions, about 20 percent occurred because people failed to clean the dryer lint screen. In addition to cleaning the lint screen, Coan said, state officials recommend cleaning the vent pipe that channels hot air from the dryer outside at least twice a year.

Lint is extremely flammable, Coan said. Brown is the second person to die in recent years as the result of a dryer fire, although the other death occurred under bizarre circumstances.

Coan said in that case, an alleged burglar who had broken into a laundromat got stuck in a vent where he died when a fire erupted. Coan had no further details about the death.

"We have a fairly substantial number of fires that occur in dryers," he said. Cleaning the dryer lint screen and the vent "isn't something people probably think of to the extent they need to."

Coan said yesterday's Lexington fire appeared to have started in the vent pipe and smoldered for hours before spreading to the wooden exterior of the house. Then the fire moved along the back exterior of the house and into the first floor. Coan said the house was substantially damaged.

Fire officials said it remained unclear yesterday whether smoke detectors in the home were working.

Brown's daughters grieved at her ex-husband's home in Belmont yesterday. In a brief phone interview, Jim Brown said his former wife was also the mother of a 15-year-old son, Jake, who was not in the house at the time.

He described his ex-wife as an "outgoing, fun-loving person." He said she moved to the house on Paul Revere Road seven years ago.

"She had a motorcycle," he said. "And she played softball in Lexington with The Moms on the Mound" team.

Residents of the quiet suburban neighborhood where Brown lived said they were devastated by her death. One neighbor, who did not want to be named, taught Brown's daughters at the Hastings School.

Her eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of their loss and she quickly walked away.

Jim Brown said family members had not made funeral arrangements as of yesterday afternoon. He said he would spend the day at home comforting his children. What could he do for the girls?

"Hold them," he said.

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.