Brockton

Four Family Members Rescued From Burning Home in Brockton

Firefighters were able to rescue the family members from the third floor of the home on Warren Avenue with a tower and ground ladder, officials said

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Three children and one adult are safe after being rescued Tuesday morning from a burning home in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Firefighters were called to the three-family home on Warren Avenue just after 9 a.m.

Michena Augustin, 33, who lives at the home, was set to start a new job but instead, she found herself trapped in her third-floor apartment with her 4-year-old daughter and her niece and nephew when a fire started in the basement.

"Very scary. I had three kids, plus myself in there, and there's smoke coming through the room under the door," Augustin recalled of the ordeal.

When crews arrived, the smokey blaze had already filled the building and the four family members were trapped, fire officials said.

Augustin and her teenage niece had to be rescued with a tower ladder. Her teenage nephew and daughter were brought down with a ground ladder with the help of firefighter Cory Lacey.

"Just the whole time, with a little girl, I was assuring her that she's safe. That 'we're here,'" Lacey recalled. "I brought her down, handed her off to other firefighters and then just the same thing with the other children."

None of those rescued needed medical care, fire officials said.

"Very scary. Very scary situation. I'm glad that everyone came out safe," said family member Marie Cherduville.

Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Galligan said the department was well-equipped to handle the rescue due to extra training in the last couple of weeks.

"In the last couple of weeks, the Brockton Fire Department actually conducted training for just this scenario, about two blocks away. So the members were all trained and throw in a 28-foot ground ladder -- here we are two weeks later -- maybe two or three blocks away and we're doing it with a successful outcome," Galligan said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"I am very grateful, so are the children," Augustin said.

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