Firefighters use a ladder to get to the third floor of a house on Summer Street in Woonsocket that was heavily damage by a fire yesterday.

Photo by Kayleigh Binette

WOONSOCKET — Firefighters battled for more than two hours with a stubborn fire at a two-family 2 1/2 -story house near the Massachusetts state line yesterday evening.

Three children and a host of animals, including two dogs, a cat, and at least 10 rabbits, were in and around the house at 261 Summer St. when the fire started just before 5 p.m. in the first-floor living room, according to Fire Chief Kenneth A. Finlay and homeowner Anna Sacoto.

All, except for a bird, made it out safely, said Sacoto.

Firefighters retrieved a cat from the burning house and treated it for smoke inhalation using a special resuscitator for animals. “We thought that the cat wasn’t going to make it,” said Finlay.

More than 60 firefighters from Woonsocket and Cumberland Hill fire departments worked to put out the blaze, which Finlay said was accelerated by wind gusts. The house was about 50 percent destroyed, he said.

“The temperature had been mild and the windows had been thrown open,” Finlay said. “The fire had all the air that it needed to grow.”

Originally built in 1900, according to city records, the large house’s layout also helped spread the fire, he said, allowing the fire to burn between walls and jump rapidly to the top floors.

“Every section of wall was like a separate chimney,” Finlay said. “The fire went horizontal. It went to spots that we could not go to quick enough.”

National Grid was called to cut power to the house when power lines near the front yard began sagging from the heat, Finlay said.

“It was a labor-intensive fire,” said Finlay.

The fire charred the entire front of the dwelling, including exterior porches on two floors, the roof and parts of the sides of the house, sending black smoke into the neighborhood. The police cordoned off the road between Winter and Rebekah streets.

The Binette family, who live at 275 Summer St., said they left their house upon hearing the neighboring house’s smoke detectors sounding.

They stepped outside to the sight of flames shooting out of a window nearest their home, which sustained minor damage from the fire.

Sacoto, the homeowner, said she was on her way home from work when her 13-year-old daughter, Monica, called to tell her that the house was burning.

Monica had been on the second floor with a friend from school, Nicole, according to Sacoto. An 11-year-old boy, Connor Kovacich, was on the first floor. Monica called her mother upon leaving the house.

“I’m very happy that my daughter got out. I worry about my animals, but if I lost my daughter, I don’t know that I would do,” Sacoto said.

Connor and his mother, Donna Kovacich, moved into the first-floor apartment last month, said Sacoto. Connor is usually watched by a babysitter while his mother is away, she said. Kovacich and her son were brought to the police station for questioning last night.

Finlay would not confirm the names of those in the house at the time of the fire or speculate as to a cause. Investigators from the state Fire Marshal’s Office were on the scene as the fire was brought under control at about 7:15 p.m.

Sacoto said she purchased the house four years ago and had recently renovated it, purchasing new appliances and re-siding it. She and her daughter will be staying with family in Uxbridge, Mass. The house had fire insurance.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Sacoto. “I don’t have a house. I don’t have anything.”

pmarcelo@projo.com