Elderly husband, wife killed in house fire in Plymouth
PLYMOUTH - To keep warm on cold winter nights, Eduardo and Maria Rosa Tavares slept on a sofa in their living room, next to their beloved wood stove. The elderly couple had come to rely on the stove, because their regular oil heating system was broken, their niece said.
Fire officials are trying to determine whether that stove caused a fire that engulfed the couple's house in North Plymouth early yesterday, taking both their lives and making them the second and third elderly town residents to die in fires this week.
"This is extremely devastating for us," Wendy Barbosa of Carver, the couple's niece, said in an interview outside the charred house at 35 Cherry St.
The couple, who had trouble seeing and walking, had been using the wood stove because the regular oil heating system had broken a few years ago, Barbosa said, adding that the pair "lived on a very limited income."
The fire at the single-family house was first reported by a next-door neighbor at 6:45 a.m., said Plymouth Battalion Chief Donald Brown.
Firefighters found Maria Rosa Tavares, 69, in the front hallway of the house. She was later pronounced dead at Jordan Hospital. Her husband, Eduardo, 78, was found in another part of the house, closer to the living room, and was declared dead at the scene, Brown said.
The fire caused about $150,000 in property damage and left the house uninhabitable, Brown said. The cause of the fire appears to have been accidental, but it remains under investigation, he said.
"The structure is still standing, but every door and window is all busted through," said Earl Day, who lives directly across the street. "I can see the backyard right through the house."
Relatives said the couple were married for 48 years and had four adult children. They were from the Azores, an island group off the coast of Portugal.
In 1979, they purchased their house, which is a locally infamous address: It was the home of Bartolomeo Vanzetti, an Italian immigrant who was convicted with Nicola Sacco in one of the most notorious murder trials of the 20th century. Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested in 1920 and charged with the robbery and murder of two men in Braintree. After being found guilty at trial in Dedham, they were executed by electrocution on Aug. 23, 1927. Questions have lingered about whether the men, who were members of an anarchist group, received a fair trial.
At one time, town officials expressed interest in buying the home because of its historical significance, said Alfred Tavares, the couple's son, who lives a few houses down on Cherry Street.
Eduardo Tavares worked for years at Revere Copper & Brass, where he drove a forklift, and retired from the company in 1992, his son said. Maria Rosa Tavares, a homemaker, enjoyed making scarves and blankets for her six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She also spent her time in their backyard, where she gardened and raised chickens and rabbits.
A relative said the couple had small space heaters in several locations in the house, but State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan reported there was no evidence of functional smoke detectors in the residence.
"Smoke alarms are the best way to ensure survivability in case of a fire," Coan said.
Chimneys, fireplaces, and wood stoves were the source of 880 fires in Massachusetts in 2007, said Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state fire marshal's office. Those fires resulted in one death and 16 injuries, and $3.3 million in property damage, she said.
It was the second fatal fire to occur in Plymouth this week. On Tuesday, firefighters found Delia Sutclisse, 77, unconscious in her home on South Meadow Road. She was rushed to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where she died yesterday.
Mieth encouraged elderly residents who have trouble paying for heating system repairs or fuel to contact their local senior center or council on aging for information on fuel aid programs.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. 