Officer helped save life in Lynn house fire
LYNN - A 74-year-old grandfather managed to usher his family out of their rapidly burning home here Tuesday night, and a veteran police officer held his breath as he searched amid thick smoke looking for a trapped occupant.
Officer Tom Hazard, was two minutes away from 18 Clinton St., when the emergency call came in at 9:31 p.m. As he arrived, he was told that there was one more person inside the house. High flames flickered near the back of the house, and thick black smoke billowed out the front, according to witnesses.
Before Hazard arrived, the grandfather, Clifford Jones, had already helped his wife, Minnie Helen Swain, and her two sisters to get out of the house. Two other occupants, Jones’s nephew and a family friend, escaped on their own.
But Glaston Edward, 57, the boyfriend of one of the sisters, had become trapped inside. All seven people resided at the house.
“My grandfather did what he had to; he got them to safety,’’ Siara Swain, 29, said yesterday in front of their house, which city fire officials said was destroyed.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, but investigators believe it started near a back balcony, where two refrigerators were plugged into a single extension cord. That cord was connected to a power strip plugged into a kitchen outlet.
Hazard said in an interview at the police station yesterday afternoon that he entered the house six times, each time holding his breath to contend with the choking smoke. Hazard said he tried to get closer to Edward’s voice each time.
“Visibility was zero, and there was trash and debris from floor to ceiling,’’ said Hazard, 36, a father of three. “I called out, and I got a response that could not have been more than 10 feet away.’’
He eventually reached Edwards and tried to pull him out of the house, but Hazard said that the clutter prevented him from doing so. He went outside for air, and another officer, David Galeazzi, tried to reach Edwards, but was unsuccessful.
Firefighters arrived, and Hazard gave them Edwards’s location, allowing them to rescue him.
Acting Police Chief Kevin Coppinger called Hazard a hero.
“I reviewed the reports and spoke with the officers,’’ said Coppinger. “It was a very heroic and commendable act that he did.’’
Edwards sustained the most serious smoke inhalation and remained at Boston Medical Center yesterday in critical but stable condition. The other family members and the two police officers were treated for and released.
Siara Swain said what police referred to as clutter was actually merchandise her grandmother, Minnie Helen Swain, had accumulated at garage sales and other places to “help people who didn’t have much.’’
“She is such a caring person and is always thinking about how to help other people,’’ Siara Swain said. “. . . She accumulates things and gives them away.’’
