A fire broke out Monday, Oct. 15, about 4 a.m. at an Alder Court home in Quincy.

  The fire destroyed a storage shed and garage and did extensive damage to the kitchen and dining area of Bryan and Brenda Roccucci’s home.

  Unconfirmed reports indicate the fire most likely started in the storage shed behind the Roccucci home.

  It quickly spread to the neighbor’s adjoining structure, a two-story workshop attached to Lee and Shelly Braswell’s Coburn Street home.

  Roccucci said he got up around 4 a.m. and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

  He noticed a strange light through his kitchen window and quickly realized it was shooting flames from behind his storage shed.

  Roccucci grabbed a garden hose in an attempt to put out the fire, but quickly realized it wasn’t going to help. He called 911.

  When he went back to the shed the fire had already spread to the workshop/garage of the Coburn Street home that backed up to his home.

  The fire was also starting to get close to another adjacent home, so Roccucci began spraying the side of that house to prevent it from catching fire.

  He said that the fire department arrived in what seemed like just minutes after he called 911.

  Roccucci couldn’t praise the firefighters enough. “They are absolutely incredible, unbelievable. The minute they arrived, some of them were moving valuables out of harm’s way.

  “We had family heirlooms in the kitchen that I later saw safe out in our driveway. I can’t say enough about these guys.”

  Neighbor Lee Braswell said his wife was getting up for work around 4 a.m. and heard a noise that she thought was a bear getting into their garbage again.

Bryan Roccucci operates Big Daddy's Guide Service.  His fishing boat suffered moderate damage in the fire.

  When Shelly Braswell went to look, she immediately saw the flames and called 911.

  She woke her husband, who used a 1-inch garden hose in an unsuccessful attempt to douse the fire engulfing his workshop.

  Assistant Fire Chief Frank Carey was the first responder and incident commander.

  Carey made sure residents were evacuated and directed crews from four Quincy fire engines and a rescue squad to fight the fire.

  When it appeared that additional structures were under threat, Carey called for mutual aid from Meadow Valley Fire Department. An engine and three-person crew were dispatched to help fight the fire.

  Quincy fire station’s support team 81, staffed by Leanna Mann and Rick Foster, kept the firefighters supplied with air, water and medical aid.

  Capt. Jim Mann said that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

  Mann reported that approximately 20 firefighters extinguished the blaze after a three-hour battle.

  By 7:30 a.m. they were back at their respective stations cleaning up and readying their engines for the next call.

  The residents of both houses involved evacuated their homes without incident.
Several firefighters sustained minor injuries of cuts and scrapes.