Fire in Palmer leaves 9 homeless

PALMER, Mass. (WWLP) - A family is homeless Sunday morning after a fire destroyed their home overnight.

The fire started around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning at 89 Peterson Road in Palmer.

It took dozens of firefighters to get the flames under control.

The family includes seven children who range in age from 7 to 19 years old.

Everyone got out safely, although, unfortunately, their home was completely destroyed.

Fontunately they have relatives living next door to them, so they were able stay warm for the night.

The fire is under control now, but Chief Roy told 22News that it was "stubborn" and that it took them several hours to get to this point.

The American Red Cross is still on the scene and since the family is okay, they're now making sure the firefighters have what they need.

One thing making the firefighters' efforts hard this morning is the freezing cold temperatures; the road is a sheet of ice from all the water they've been using.

They had to call in the DPW to drop some sand so they can safely get up and down the road and driveway.

Now, investigators are trying to figure out what started the fire.

The fire chief told 22News that the fire is not suspicious, but they are going to need to take a closer look to figure out exactly what happened.