2 alarm fire evacuates residents at Agawam nursing home

AGAWAM, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A two-alarm fire forced residents to evacuate for several hours at a senior living facility in Agawam on Friday evening.

We spoke with some of the facility’s residents who were simply shocked when what seemed like a normal evening ended with a fire in the place they call home.

Residents at Holiday Quail Run Estate Senior Living Facility were eating dinner when they heard rumbles of thunder.

“It was anything unusual other than a bad thunderstorm, and then it was ungodly the noise, sparks flying all over the place. I just ran upstairs,” one resident recalled.

Around 5:00 p.m., a fire broke out at the Agawam senior living facility, forcing the building’s residents to evacuate, spending hours outside.

We spoke with one resident who wished to remain anonymous. At first, she didn’t think much of the thunderstorm until the fire alarms started going off.

“The firemen came and told everyone, they needed to leave the building immediately,” she told us.

Agawam Fire Department received help from the East Longmeadow department as they worked to put out the flames.

“On the second floor and the third floor, they’ve got from the roof a big water flood.”

Luckily, both the 3-year resident of the home and her cat were able to get out safely.

“She was scared. She was really, really scared,” the resident said.

With her cat in tow, she counted her blessings.

“I’m very, very lucky. I can walk with a walker, I can move around. We have a lot of elderly people who are in their 90s, they can’t move around. They panicked. I’m very, very lucky.”

She told us she never thought something like this would happen in the place she calls home.

Residents are being moved to Blue Bird Estates in East Longmeadow as plans are made for more permanent accommodation, and fortunately, no injuries were reported as a result of the fire.