North Attleboro fire chief says 7-alarm Juniper Road blaze appears accidental; no injuries reported

Chris Coleman, the fire chief for the North Attleboro Fire Department, told town officials that a seven-alarm fire that began in an air-conditioning unit at 30 Juniper Road is being investigated as accidental and that no firefighters or civilians were injured.

Coleman said first-arriving crews made an aggressive interior attack but encountered “very heavy fire conditions” after forcing the door to the affected apartment; the fire then penetrated the attic and began running through the roofline, forcing crews to withdraw to defensive operations. “There were no injuries, to firefighters or civilians at this fire,” Coleman said.

The chief said the department struck seven alarms because of logistics and scale: long hose lays (including lines run through backyards), extensive pump operations on multiple hydrants and the need to bring overhaul and secondary-search crews into the structure. He said crews initially arrived with two engine companies, a ladder company and a shift commander and that normal staffing is 13 but the department had about 10 on scene after ambulances were temporarily at Sturdy Hospital.

Coleman said mutual-aid departments from nearby communities, as far west as Norwood and as far south as Pawtucket and Smithfield (Rhode Island), provided manpower and equipment. He described the heat and fire behavior in the attic and roof vents as intense, saying at one point the fire “almost looked like a tornado.” The department deployed a thermal-imaging drone overnight to check for smoldering areas and extinguished a small hot spot before clearing most crews.

Investigators from the North Attleboro Fire Investigation Unit and the Massachusetts State Police fire investigation unit are handling the origin-and-cause work because of the high-dollar loss. Coleman said the fire “is gonna be deemed accidental, does not appear to be, suspicious at this time,” and that initial inquiry is focusing on an air-conditioning unit in one of the apartments, though investigators have not yet determined whether the failure was electrical or another malfunction.

Coleman outlined recovery steps for displaced residents: the town is coordinating with property management and local and state agencies and plans to open a resource recovery center at the middle school the following day to help residents with housing, IDs and other needs. He said State Representative Scanlon is assisting with temporary housing applications.

Residents reported concerns about birds nesting in air-conditioning units; Coleman said investigators have heard those accounts but the cause remains under investigation. He also confirmed there were no sprinklers in the building because they were not required at the time the structure was built; the recently installed fire alarm system did operate and generated the central-station call.

Coleman gave contact information for donations and coordination: Taylor O'Neil, the town’s public information liaison, can be reached at (508) 699-0100 or ontoneil@nattleboro.com. The town will post a Juniper Road assistance page with re-entry guidance and resource updates once structural-engineering and property-management assessments are complete.

Coleman said the department will conduct an after-action review with command staff and shift commanders to identify lessons learned, and reiterated that staffing levels and budgetary considerations remain a town-level discussion.