ORANGE — Outside the burned home where a fire claimed the lives of two young girls, Abbie Cushing, a friend of the family, was helping neighbors and a small work crew with the cleanup Tuesday.
Echoing others in the community, Cushing said the town’s firefighters did their best to avert the tragedy late Saturday afternoon at 34 Mechanic St.
“My belief is that they did everything they possibly could,” Cushing said, after speaking with Fire Chief James Young Jr., Tuesday morning. “I talked to the fire chief this morning, he’s a good guy, he came to give his condolences and bring something for the memorial.”
Earlier this week, some neighbors raised questions about whether firefighters could have doused the fire more quickly and perhaps saved the lives of 6-year-old Leena Shea Ciolino and 8-year-old Victoria Rose Gaignard.
Chief Young declined to comment for this article, but some neighbors said in interviews Tuesday that firefighters seemed to encounter difficulty after first arriving at the fire.
Janet Tucci, who lives across the street and witnessed the blaze, said the chief told her a fire hydrant was defective. Doug Soucie, another neighbor who was on the scene Saturday, also reported that firefighters were unable to get water from a hydrant to the scene for many minutes. In the confusion of the moment, Soucie and others said, it was difficult to tell exactly how long it took to get water.
Emergency crews responded to a 911 call placed around 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Soucie said he called for help after hearing commotion next door and seeing smoke. He said it appeared the father of one of the young victims had already tried to get to the girls but that the building was already in flames, with smoke “like you wouldn’t believe.” He said two trucks arrived “immediately.”
Rich Snow, who lives across the street with Tucci and was early to the fire scene, said that even without the benefit of a working fire hose, firefighters and police were moving in and out the back door of the house in an apparent attempt to reach the victims inside.
Three of the people inside the home — Vinny Ciolino and Heather Laughton, whom neighbors said are Leena’s parents, and Leena’s teenage brother — escaped the blaze. Vinny Ciolino was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where he remained Tuesday night. His condition was not immediately available.
From the layout of the homes and the street, the back of 34 Mechanic St. would not have been visible from the vantage point of some of the witnesses — Denise Dirth, her husband Mike Chaplin and Jesse Jorgensen — who raised questions about whether firefighters could have acted more quickly to extinguish the fire and reach those trapped inside.
Their remarks and The Recorder’s decision to publish them upset many in the community, who rallied around their firefighters, whom their chief said were “hurting.” Young said their hearts go out to the families and that his own “internal family” of firefighters would need time to heal.
Young on Tuesday again declined to discuss details of the fire and his efforts to fight it and said he would have no comment until the fire investigation is complete.
“Our thoughts are with the family at this point and the tragic loss of those two victims. That is where the thoughts of our department are at this point,” Young said.
Cushing said the focus should now be on what the community is doing to help. Bri Gabry’s GoFundMe page has already raised $14,485 of a $20,000 goal in two days. To donate, visit:
www.gofundme.com/gxsvtfpf
Witty’s Funeral Home in Orange is also collecting monetary donations on behalf of both families: Checks may be sent to Witty’s Funeral Home at 158 South Main St., Orange, with “kids” in the memo line.
On West Main Street, Hazel Lackey’s Community Clothing Center is also collecting donations. Lackey lost an infant to a house fire in 1950, and said anything in the clothing and thrift shop is always free to fire victims. The shop is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at 17 West Main St., Orange.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state fire marshal’s office.
A memorial has grown in the front yard of 34 Mechanic St., with stuffed toys, candles and letters. Local crafters have added pink and purple ribbons for passersby to express their solidarity with the family.
To honor the lives of Leena and Victoria, community members gathered for a vigil on Tuesday at the Community Church of North Orange and Tully.
“People just felt like they needed to do something. People felt that at least lighting a candle and saying a prayer helped them connect with the family,” said Rev. Don Erickson, who organized the event through the school day from 9 to 2:30 p.m.
People streamed into the church throughout the day to light a candle, say a prayer and meditate silently. Erickson was also available to meet individually.
“A lot of people wanted to just talk and touch base and express their sadness and I was able to listen,” said Erickson, who has a son in third grade at Dexter Park School, close in age to the two girls who died.
“There is the need to hug your child more than is common, realizing the fragile gift they are. It hits so close to home, literally. It is too sad to contemplate for too long. And I was not even there like the heroic first responders or the neighbors,” said Erickson in a letter to the community. “The only sense to be made I can fathom is that we are all together in this immense sadness and God resides there in the middle of it.”
The family was not part of the congregation at Community Church of North Orange, but Erickson felt he needed take action. He reached out to other local ministries to try to organize another prayer service in the coming days closer to the center of town.
The church will also be donating money to the family. The details of how much money and whether collections will be taken will be determined at a meeting among church leaders on Friday, said Erickson.
Recorder reporter Lisa Spear contributed to this story.