Fire in Pawtucket sends three firefighters to the hospital for heat exhaustion

July 30, 2019 4:20 pm

By: Brittany Comak

Twitter: @BComakABC6

Email: bcomak@abc6.com

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) – Officials are investigating a fire in Pawtucket that sent three firefighters to the hospital.

It was just before 3 P.M. Tuesday when witnesses say they saw smoke and flames coming from Kars N Cuts on Dexter Street in Pawtucket.

The business was a hybrid salon, car wash, and car restoration business.

“We just smelled smoke and turned around and there was black smoke everywhere – a big plume of black smoke,” said property owner Melanie Loiselle-Mongeon. “It was very, very scary.”

Pawtucket Fire Captain Michael Thurber tells us the firefighters faced many obstacles in trying to put the fire out, including a possible hazmat situation.

“Normally we see a thick black smoke when all that carbon is burning inside there,” explained Thurber. “Today we saw yellows, reds, little bit of greens.”

And of course the extreme heat made things even more threatening. EMTs took three firefighters away in ambulances for heat exhaustion.

“It was extremely hot, especially with all of their equipment on, 90 some odd pounds of equipment, they were hurting when they were coming out of there,” said Thurber.

He says they called in extra departments so they could switch out the firefighters more quickly than usual.

“They dress down, they get some fluids into them,” he explained. “We were able to get them rehabbed and back to work fairly quickly. I commend all of them for the job they did.”

As for Kars n Cuts, the owner told ABC 6 that a fan being plugged into the wall may have sparked that fire, but it is still under investigation.

He also said he feels terrible that those firefighters had to go to the hospital.