Woman saves daughters, but dies in Lexington blaze

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

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

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

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 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 later found her near her bedroom window.

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

Strano, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he had just moved into the neighborhood two weeks ago and did not know the family. His house is a one-and-a-half-story Cape that mirrors the Brown house 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 residential homes. Altogether, the fires caused $500,000 in damage, he said.

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

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

Coan said the 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 whether smoke detectors in the house were functional.

Gena Brown's daughters grieved at her ex-husband's home in Belmont today. In a brief phone interview, Jim Brown said his former wife was also the mother of a 15-year-old son named Jake, who was not in the house at the time. He described his ex-wife as an "outgoing, fun-loving person" with family in Indiana. 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 were devastated by Gena Brown's sudden death. One neighbor, who did not want to be named, taught Brown's daughters at the nearby Hastings Elementary School. But 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 yet. He said he would spend the day at home comforting his children. What could he do for the girls?

"Hold them," he said.

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