POSTED: 12:05 pm EDT March 29, 2007
UPDATED: 1:57 pm EDT March 29, 2007
WESTFORD, Mass. -- A college student who worked with young children in the town of Westford was killed in an early-morning fire Thursday.
NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that family members and friends were grieving Thursday afternoon after learning that Suzanne St. Gelais, 21, died in a blaze at her family's multi-family apartment building.
"This is very difficult because she was such a nice person. She would do anything for you," her friend Barbara Warwick said.
St. Gelais was trapped upstairs by flames that prevented her from getting downstairs. Firefighters said her body was found in a room toward the back of the building. She tried to escape and fire crews tried to get to her, but they were ordered out of the building when the roof began to collapse.
"We did have a partial collapse of the roof in that center part of the structure," Westford Fire Chief Richard Rochon said.
St. Gelais was a 2004 graduate of Nashoba Valley Technical High School where she played on the basketball, softball and volleyball team.
"We were best friends in high school. She played sports. She did everything with me. If she had a problem she came to me or I came to her," her friend Liz Warwick said.
Warwick said she and St. Gelais had been sharing an apartment until a few days ago.
"She wanted to work with special ed. She wanted to work with the teachers. She was working with the town ... with the students in the town," Liz Warwick said, explaining that St. Gelais had a job working with children in the town's after-school program.
Taking college classes, St. Gelais had moved back in with her extended family at 10 Beacon Street recently. The rest of the family members, ages 2 to 56, got out safely, awakened by smoke detectors.
"I'm so sorry. I hope that she passed away in peace and didn't suffer," Barbara Warwick said.
Investigators said they still don't know what started the fire.
Girl dies in Westford blaze
By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com and Lisa Redmond lredmond@lowellsun.dom
Lowell Sun
WESTFORD -- A 21-year-old woman was killed Wednesday night in a fast-moving, three-alarm fire that destroyed a Beacon Street apartment building.
Officials have not released the identity of the woman. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The fire began about 11:45 p.m. at the building at 10 Beacon St. when alarms sounded. Fire Chief Richard Rochon said the smoke detectors in the building were working.
Initially fire officials believed two people were missing, but then a teen-age boy was found.
Shortly before 12:30 a.m., firefighters were ordered out of the building. Then, the roof collapsed.
Rochon said in media reports that the fire appeals to have extended from the first floor to the second floor. Preliminary indications are that the blaze was not suspicious, he said.
The state Fire Marshall's Office has been called in to investigate.
Linda Anderson, a neighbor who lives on Maple Street, a few hundred feet from the fire scene, said she had just gone to bed a little before midnight when she heard a pop and a loud explosion.
"The house shook from the explosion," Anderson said. "And then I looked out the window and the flames were enormous, into the sky."
Katie Strobel, who also lives on Maple Street, said she was sleeping when the "loud bangs" woke her up. Strobel said she ran out of the house and immediately saw flames.
"They were at least as tall as the trees," she said, gesturing at roughly 75-foot trees around the home as she stood on Maple Street in a pink bathrobe and watched the flames.
The roof of the home had collapsed last night and most of the white sides of the home had been blackened by flames.
The blaze drew fire departments from throughout the region.
Firefighters gave a brief statement early Thursday morning, confirming that one resident was unaccounted for. They said the fire moved quickly through the building while they went inside to battle flames and search for residents.
The National Weather Service had a fire weather warning in effect for all of Middlesex County on Thursday morning, as winds were expected to gust of up to 35 mph.
The flames blew smoke throughout the neighborhood and down Graniteville Road, and fanned flames that shot at least 20 feet from the collapsed roof.
Fire trucks swarmed North Main and North streets, and one truck pumped water out of a nearby stream to help firefighters who had earlier said in radio broadcasts that water pressure was low.
Neighbors said police arrived on the scene almost immediately and that firefighters were soon there, too. A third alarm was struck as soon as they arrived at the house. They initially called frantically for a National Grid crew to come to the scene because numerous live wires were down in the street around the home.
Neighbors gathered along Maple Street and around the area to watch the flames as firefighters battled them from the street and ladders stretched high above the home from trucks.
Investigators from the State Fire Marshall's Office are on their way to the scene Thursday morning, as is the Red Cross.
One girl, said to be a member of the family who lives in the home, cried hysterically as she walked down Maple Street.
Neighbors said there were quite a few children living in the home.
Westford Eagle, June 13, 2007
Members of the St. Gelais family take a break from the clean up of the wreckage from the fire that destroyed their home. Most of the family has since been relocated into the trailers that sit next to their old home while they wait to rebuild a new one
Westford - A house burned down by a tragic fire on March 28 is getting a fresh start. The St. Gelais family is working to demolish and rebuild the 10 Beacon St. residence. A crew of 15 family members and friends were hard at work on Saturday, working despite occasional downpours.
The volunteers made the best of the inclement weather. “We kept working [through the rain]. Matter of fact it helped us,” Richard St. Gelais said. “It keeps the dust down, the grit down. From the fire there is a lot of soot and dust. Everyone said it was better working Saturday than Sunday. We went faster in the light mist.”
The fire, which began unintentionally as a result of either smoking or electrical problems, claimed the life of St. Gelais’s daughter Suzanne, 21.
“We are planning to rebuild to the same conditions as it was [before the fire]. My sons and I will be moving back into the property,” St. Gelais said. “My daughter and son-in-law have moved to Pepperell and are not sure yet if they’ll be back.”
This weekend’s efforts were focused on demolition of the property. St. Gelais hopes to have the property down to its first level and begin framing after that. “I’m hoping [the house will be built in] six months if things work out the way they’re supposed to,” St. Gelais, who is currently living in a trailer on the property, said. “I’d like to get rid of the trailers. I’m not a camper,” St. Gelais said jokingly. “We’re making the best of it.”
The crew of about 15 on Saturday was a mix of family and friends. Two of St. Gelais’s brothers, his children and grandchildren pitched in to help load up dumpsters with material from the demolition. Several high school students, friends of Westford Academy sophomore Richard St. Gelais, joined in as well.
“We are planning on working with all volunteers” through the demolition and rebuilding process, St. Gelais said. The work will be overseen by contractor Jawn-Marc St. Gelais, another of St. Gelais’s children.
Anyone interested in volunteering for any part of the demolition or rebuilding process can stop by the property at 10 Beacon St. “I’m on the property at most times, if you’re interested in signing up to do framing, plastering, whichever thing you prefer to do,” St. Gelais said. St. Gelais’s home number is 978-692-0064. Work on the property will take place evenings and weekends, and volunteers will be fed.