WOODS HOLE — Sometimes the cable guy has a good reason for showing up late.
Jim MacConnell and Tom Masciulli, two Comcast technicians, helped save an 88-year-old woman from a fire yesterday that ravaged a home at 122 Gardiner Road overlooking Buzzards Bay.
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Woods Hole House FireThe names of the homeowners were not released, but 2007 records show the property is assessed at $2.4 million and is owned by Frederick and Marguerite Smith, both 88.
MacConnell and Masciulli, the two repairmen, had installed a phone line at 124 Gardiner Road around 11:45 a.m. and were preparing to leave when the homeowner flagged them down because the phone had stopped working.
They never imagined a temporary equipment failure would end up saving a life.
Just moments later, an elderly neighbor came running out of the house next door, screaming about a fire in his home and his wife trapped inside, MacConnell said. He and Masciulli tried the side door but it was locked, so the pair raced around to the back of the house, where they entered through a rear door. MacConnell said there was heavy, black smoke throughout the house that made it difficult to search for the woman.
Finally, they spotted her at the top of the stairs trying to get to the bottom floor.
With flames flickering just behind her on the second floor, MacConnell and Masciulli walked her out of the burning home to safety. “There was so much black smoke and she had soot all over her face,” MacConnell said, while watching firefighters battle the blaze. “If we had left, it’s just my opinion, but if we weren’t here she would’ve perished.”
Irene O’Connell, who lives in the house where the installers were working, said she panicked when she saw the smoke coming from next door. If not for MacConnell and Masciulli, O’Connell said she dreads what would have happened.
“They’re the real heroes today,” O’Connell said as she hugged MacConnell and thanked him.
O’Connell said neither Fred nor Marguerite “Peggy” Smith required treatment at Falmouth Hospital, and will stay temporarily at the Woods Hole Inn nearby.
Their son lives in Fitchburg and was on his way to the Cape yesterday afternoon, O’Connell said.
Police and fire officials at the scene said no one received life-threatening injuries, although one Falmouth firefighter suffered smoke inhalation and another had a shoulder injury, said Falmouth fire Deputy Chief Glen Rogers. He declined to release their names.
The home is likely a total loss, Rogers said.
Although it has been determined the fire started on the second floor, he said the cause is still under investigation.
Crews from Falmouth, Mashpee, Bourne and the Massachusetts Military Reservation Fire Department helped battle the blaze, with flames reaching 30 feet into the air. Rogers said moderately sufficient water pressure and southwest winds pushing the flames toward a nearby home and trees made battling the fire difficult.
Rogers said the smoke was so heavy upon arrival that crews had a difficult time locating the driveway and fire hydrants.
Firefighters from Plymouth and Cotuit provided mutual aid.
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