WORCESTER, MA. (THECOUNT) — Lt. Jason Menard has been identified as the Worcester Fire Department firefighter killed in an early Wednesday house fire on Stockholm Street, according to multiple sources.
Menard, 39, leaves behind a wife and three children. He was a member of the Worcester Fire Department for nine years, most recently assigned to the McKeon Road Fire Station.
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Fellow firefighters responded to reports of trapped residents and firefighters at 7 Stockholm Street in Worcester around 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning..
Menard’s colleagues attempted to rescue him but were unsuccessful.
The first firefighters to arrive at 7 Stockholm St. about 1 a.m. found heavy fire on the second floor of the three-story building. Smoke was showing from the roof of the building and there were reports of people trapped inside, according to radio transmissions. About 30 minutes after firefighters arrived, calls of a mayday, a firefighter trapped, went out over the radio from a firefighter on the third floor in “very hot” conditions. Other firefighters rushed to his aid and he was told, “Get to a window, let us know where you are.” Shortly after, firefighters called out over their radios that a firefighter “fell out the back of the building” and was on the ground, reports TauntonGazette.
Approximately 10 minutes later, as firefighters called out to indicate whether all firefighters were accounted for, other firefighters radioed that they were in a stairwell and fire was “coming up behind” them.
The fire eventually became a four-alarm blaze. Video from the scene shows flames pouring from the home and audio indicates firefighters were searching for trapped residents as they battled temperatures in the teens.
Other firefighters were injured in the blaze. They condition was not immediately provided by officials.
More than a dozen people fled the fire into the cold, reported TauntonGazette on Wednesday.
Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are currently on scene.
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Geo quick facts: Worcester is a city in central Massachusetts. The EcoTarium is a science and nature museum, with a digital planetarium, animal exhibits and a narrow-gauge railway. The vast collection at the central Worcester Art Museum includes Roman mosaics, Impressionist paintings and medieval armor. Now a museum, Salisbury Mansion is an 18th-century Georgian-style building, restored to its 1830s appearance – wikipedia.