UPDATE: Early Morning Fire in Stoughton Leaves 17 Homeless

Article updated at 1 p.m. on May 1:

An early morning fire at a multi-family home on Park Street in Stoughton has displaced 17 people, including an infant, Stoughton Fire Chief Mark Dolloff said.

The received a call at 1:22 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1 for a smell of smoke at 34/36 Park St. in Stoughton, in what ended up being a three-alarm blaze.

There were heavy fire conditions in this large 2.5 story wood frame structure, according to the Stoughton Fire Department's Facebook page. It took about three hours to knock down the fire.

While five families were displaced, there were no reports of injuries to civilians or to the crews that responded, according to SFD Captain Doug Campbell. Campbell said all residents self-evacuated. The Red Cross is assisting these residents, he said.

Kat Powers of the Red Cross said that four of the 17 victims are children under the age of 12.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Campbell said

The structure, located at the corner of Park and Seaver Streets, contained six apartment units, according to Powers.

Campbell said the second and third floors are “completely destroyed” and there is water and smoke damage on the first floor. Neither neighboring structure on Seaver St. and Park St. was damaged.

Because of the "extensive damage," Chief Dolloff said he considered the home to be a "total loss."

The Chief credited the work of fire crews, led by Capt. Campbell, for helping to prevent the fire from spreading. Dolloff also said crews were "very fortunate" that it was not windy.

Within minutes of responding, fire crews were told to evacuate the structure, before it was deemed safe to reenter.

“The fire just gained headway and as a safety precaution we had to bring everybody outside,” Campbell said.

The Stoughton Fire Department received mutual aid from a number of nearby fire departments. Crews from Avon, Brockton, Canton, Easton, Holbrook and Sharon all responded to the scene, as did the incident report unit from the State Fire Marshall’s Office and the Providence Canteen Unit.

Randolph and Walpole crews covered Stoughton’s Fire Station 1 during the call.

Firefighters were at the scene for more than six hours, with crews still investigating as of 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

An official at the Stoughton Building Department said an inspection at the structure is supposed to be done every five years, but the owner of this building has not complied, with the last inspection having taken place in 2005. Dolloff said the alarm system is up to code, however.

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Additional photos of the fire can be seen by clicking here.

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