Firefighters at the Burns home at 50 Ayer Road. (Courtesy photos)
A homemade banner adorning the Burns house thanks firefighters.
(Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
When Dave and Melissa Marteney of Ayer Road let their dog out shortly after midnight on July 26, they heard an alarm sounding in the house belonging to their neighbors, Chris and Jim Burns, who were away on vacation. The Marteneys promptly called the Harvard Fire Department.
A three-alarm blaze
The fire had started unseen toward the rear of the house. It grew quickly into a three-alarm blaze involving six fire companies from surrounding towns at the scene and a seventh to cover the fire station, reported Harvard Fire Chief Rick Sicard.
By the time the fire was quenched, the mid-1800s farmhouse had suffered heavy damage. But firefighters saved much of the family’s furniture and artwork, Jim Burns said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been officially determined. Chief Sicard said he is awaiting a report from the state fire marshal’s office.
Sicard himself got a bit of a shock while he was investigating the scene once the fire was out. The Burnses’ daughter had a pet snake that escaped during the fire. While Sicard was peering into a wall, “The snake popped its head right out at my face,” he said. He described the reptile as 3 or 4 feet long and said he had been told it was a corn snake.
Jim and Chris Burns, with their two children, plan to rent a condominium in Harvard while they determine how much of the house can be saved and what must be completely rebuilt. Jim said that he had moved to that house in the 1970s with his parents. He and Chris moved back to the home about 20 years ago, he said.
Helping hands and websites
The Burnses’ deep ties to Harvard have led to an outpouring of community support that Jim called “amazing.”
“The whole outreach from the community has been a humbling experience,” he said.
Two websites have been set up to help the family. One is through Lotsa Helping Hands (www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/719090). Stephanie Opalka, Pattie Dalconzo, and Kelly Fitzsimmons have coordinated that effort. The second website is through the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association (www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/raise-the-rent-for-the-burns-family-/213858), of which Jim is a member.
Salvaging belongings
On the Saturday after the fire, about a dozen friends pitched in to move salvageable items–and quantities of valuable maple syrup that Jim had made–out of the damaged house and into the barn. Some people took home boxes of the family’s soot-covered dishes and kitchenware, bringing them back clean and carefully repacked. Don Phillips, who described the volunteer efforts, said there may be additional work days later. Anyone can help, he noted, by checking the websites.
In addition, the General Store has a collection box for gift card donations for the family to use for clothing and other everyday needs. Opalka told the Press in an email that generic Visa cards are the most useful. “The response to this collection has been incredible,” Opalka wrote.
