Fire Guts East Harwich House

EAST HARWICH – An early-morning blaze ripped through a single-family home on Route 39 Tuesday morning. There were no injuries.

A passing motorist reported the fire at 6:38 a.m. at 1569 Route 39. Firefighters saw the smoke while responding from the nearby East Harwich station and summoned help from surrounding towns. The first arriving crews encountered heavy fire and did not initially know whether occupants had escaped.

“Companies made a pretty hard push” to get inside the building, Harwich Fire Chief David LeBlanc said, but they were thwarted by a hole in the floor near the front door. They attacked the fire through a side door, and later found out that the resident had already escaped. Awakened by the smell of smoke, “she had actually gotten out a bedroom window,” LeBlanc said.

Harwich crews quickly knocked down the flames, with help from firefighters from Orleans, Brewster, Chatham and Dennis. The fire originated in the living room and remains under investigation, though the cause appears to be accidental, LeBlanc said. Damage to the house was extensive.