Fire Officials Investigating Cause of Haverhill Street Fire

Firefighters responded to a basement fire on Haverhill Street within 4 minutes of the initial call but the age of the home made the blaze more challenging to fight.

Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said that the initial call came in at 11:52 a.m. for a basement fire at a single-family home on Haverhill Street. The female occupant of the home, along with her two children and one she was sitting, were able to get out of the house safely.

Firefighters first came to heavy smoke and fire in the basement floor. Unfortunately, Mansfield said the old home’s exterior walls did not have any inherent fire-stopping qualities, as modern homes all have.

Therefore, the fire had spread to sections of the first floor and a small section of the second floor.

Fire officials had to close down Haverhill Street for roughly one hour and 45 minutes in order to safely fight the fire.

After extinguishing the fire, fire inspectors found heavy water and smoke damage throughout the house. Mansfield said the house will be uninhabitable for “quite some time.”

Mansfield said the cause of the fire, which did in upwards of $150,000 in damage, is still under investigation.

Fire crews from Lawrence and North Andover helped cover the stations while Andover firefighters were on the scene.