Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

HOPKINTON -- About 30 people were taken to three hospitals after a smoky oven fire today at an elderly housing complex here drew crews from several departments and sparked the evacuation of about 50 people to a nearby senior center.

Eight residents, three EMTs and 19 firefighters were being transferred to Rhode Island, Westerly or South County hospitals, primarily as a precautionary step, according to Fred Sherman, chief of the Hope Valley EMS, because of concerns they may have inhaled toxic substances.

Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire Chief Frederick A. Stanley said preliminary indications are the fire started when a woman who lives on the first floor put a transistor radio in her oven, forgot about it, and then turned on the oven.

After the fire was put out, personnel this evening were testing rooms in the 55-unit complex for hydrogen, cyanide and carbon monoxide in the Canonchet Cliffs II, a housing complex on Route 3, near Exit 2 on Route 95 south.

As many as 40 ambulances responded to the complex, while more than 10 fire trucks from Hope Valley-Wyoming, Ashaway, Carolina-Richmond and Stonington, Conn., fire departments could be seen. A reporter at the scene about 5:40 p.m. saw about 10 firefighters being treated with oxygen. Inside a lobby in the complex, an EMT triage worker was asking people if they had breathed any smoke.

A manager from the company that manages the housing complex said that it was expected that people will be able to return to their apartments, except for the apartment in which the fire happened.

Michael Octeau, Hopkinton Emergency Management Agency director, said about 50 residents, most of whom are elderly, were being bused out, including on some school buses, mainly to get them out of cold weather. Stanley, the fire chief, said people were being taken to the Richmond Senior Center on Route 138 in nearby Wyoming.

Octeau said the housing complex was opened to clear the air. Officials had been waiting for the building inspector to determine when people can return. Octeau said he expected residents will be able to return to the complex. By 7 p.m., many were on their way back home.

Joe Arsenault, Richmond Emergency Management Agency director, said he was calling in volunteers to help set up the temporary shelter at the center, which is in the same building as the Richmond Police Department.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writers Donita Naylor and Amanda Milkovits

 Tags  fire oven fire

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