Nashua Fire: 2 Saved, Pets Killed

NASHUA, NH — An elderly Nashua woman was seriously injured and several pets were killed in a fire at a Lock Street home Sunday morning. The two-alarm fire, which broke out around 9 a.m., raged for more than an hour and rendered the home "a total loss," according to Nashua Deputy fire Chief Karl Gerhard. "Hoarding conditions" inside the residence hampered firefighting efforts, Gerhard said.

Firefighters pulled the elderly woman and a man out of the burning building to safety. The man had initially escaped the home but went back in to try and rescue the elderly woman and became trapped himself, Gerhard said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. It was unclear if the home was equipped with smoke detectors; Gerhard said firefighters did not hear any going off.

"Hoarding conditions inside the residence were causing difficulty in advancing in the building and also limiting hose stream reach to extinguish fire," Gerhard said in a statement. "This greatly reduced the speed at which the fire fighters could knock down the fire and make progress to the occupant believed trapped."

Photos: The scene of a fire in Nashua on Lock Street January 7, 2018. (Credit: Nashua Fire Department)