Fire Tears Through Home On Pine Grove Lane

A structure fire tore through a home on Pine Grove Lane on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a large response by the Nantucket Fire Department to the mid-island neighborhood. 

No one was at home when the fire started, and several pets - including a dog and a cat - were rescued and appeared unharmed.

The fire at 9 Pine Grove Lane - which was first reported around 3:15 p.m. - was quickly brought under control, but police and fire personnel remained at the scene for hours conducting an overhaul.

Nantucket Fire Chief Michael Cranson shared the following update with the Current after he cleared the scene around 6:30 p.m.:

"We got a call that there was a report of a structure fire," Cranson said. "We arrived on scene - it was at 9 Pine Grove - and we found heavy, heavy black smoke coming out of the roof and the eaves and the window sills. So we made entry into the property. We just discovered fire on the first level, the second level, and in the attic space it extended into, so it took us quite a while to extinguish it all and do overhaul. There were two pets in the house, and I guess a passerby discovered the fire and was able to remove the two pets prior to our arrival, so there were no injuries reported in the fire. But the house is very heavily damaged. We had to cut a hole in the roof and do a lot of overhaul, pulling ceilings and walls because it was in the walls. It had been burning for quite some time, probably all day undetected, and that's really about it."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and while some people at the scene had speculated it may have been caused by a wood stove, Cranson said that did not appear to be the case.

"It doesn't look like it was the wood stove that caused it," Cranson said. "It's under investigation, but it appears to be some type of accidental thing."