Canton family pressing on after fire destroys their home

By Kathy Anderson

It all took place in just a few horrifying minutes, but a two-alarm electrical fire that nearly destroyed a Canton home on Tuesday, February 16, did not destroy its occupants’ spirit of survival and gratitude.

The Notkin family’s home was nearly destroyed by fire on February 16.

At approximately 10:11 a.m. that snowy day, the Canton Fire Department responded to a call from a fire box near the burning residence at 63 Trayer Road. Molly Notkin and her 18-year-old son Mike were home while an HVAC repairman was working on the family’s furnace.

“We were hearing odd noises, and in the course of walking around the house we heard a ‘pop’ and all of the fire alarms went off in the house,” Molly said. “Mike and I were trying to see where the fire was, then we saw a couch on the first floor on fire but we couldn’t find the fire extinguisher.”

Molly, Mike and the repairman ran from the house and Molly pulled the fire box alarm at the side of the road. Although the house was built in 1978, fire box technology has been used for 150 years and according to the Canton Fire Department, is still one of the quickest ways to summon the department. Molly then called the Fire Department from her cell phone, but they were already on their way.

“The call was a two-alarm fire, which we responded with two engines and a ladder truck,” said CFD Captain Andy Morgan. “Because the smoke had risen into the attic, we received mutual aid from the Stoughton, Norwood and Sharon Fire Departments with two more engines and a ladder.”

While the family escaped unharmed, they lost practically all their belongings, including their beloved 18-year-old cat Patches. By the time the fire department arrived, the home was engulfed in smoke, flames were disgorging from a first-floor window, and Molly said she couldn’t see any part of the house from the street.

“The firefighters told me that overall the fire was very, very hot and it blew out some of the windows,” Molly said. Although the firefighters were able to extinguish the flames, there was little that could be salvaged. Patches was found asphyxiated under one of the upstairs beds.

Seeing the Notkins outside in the blustery, snow-covered street, one of the family’s neighbors, Richard Woods, brought out coats and blankets to keep them warm.

While the damage to the house is still being assessed, the Notkins — Molly, her husband Rick, Canton High School senior Mike and his older brother Matt, a student at Roger Williams University, are staying with friends in Canton.

“We will be signing a lease on a rental house in Canton this week,” Molly said. “We’ve been so fortunate to have good friends to stay with, and since we are an interfaith family, our synagogue, Temple Beth David, and the United Church of Christ, are holding a joint ‘shower’ for us so we can have some things for our new home.”

“People say to us how horrible it was,” Rick said, “and it was, but we are alive and safe. It’s like that line in the movie Finding Nemo, ‘Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”

Deputy Fire Chief Scott Johnson said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but in the meantime the Notkin family has poured their energy into forging a new start.

“It is so unreal,” Molly said. “There are tons and tons of stuff for us to do, but so many people have offered to help and the outpouring from the community has been overwhelming.”

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