THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 9, 2021 Page 7 RESCUE | FROM PAGE 1 family’s belongings at midday on Saturday, March 27. After living in the Newland Street housing complex all of his life, he and his family were moving to a new residence on Beachview Avenue. Nice Jr. and his friend Guy Galloway were loading items into a truck when his neighbor ran by him in the direction of her Newland Street unit, two courtyards away. “My house is on fire!” she yelled as she ran past them. Nice Jr. said he and his buddy literally dropped what they were doing and ran after the woman. “When I got to the courtyard, all I could see was billows of dark smoke and some flames in the back,” he said. “I had assumed it was a kitchen fire with a pot on the stove or something. I didn’t expect what I saw.” What happened next is what comes natural to most courageous people. “A Malden police officer was going in the door and me and Guy went right in, too,” said Nice Jr. “I knew [the Daltons] had kids living in the unit and we had to make sure they were out.” The first officer at the scene of the 172 Newland St. fire, Ptl. Dan Sylva, along with Nice Jr. and Galloway, got the Dalton children, ages eight, nine and 11, out of the apartment. A fourth, older teen, was discovered in the shower and was quickly evacuated with just a towel partially covering him, with no time to grab clothes due to the heavy smoke and the quickly growing flames. “The smoke was pretty bad. It was not easy to breathe,” Nice Jr. recalled, “plus the flames were right there, too. We had to get everyone out of there.” From both living in the Newland Street complex all of his life and also working in the units, Nice said, one of his first thoughts was to get to the unit first and open it with his master key so the fire department did not have to break down the door. en Tornados at his former high school as well as in the Malden Babe Ruth League for the Pilots. He is well-known around the community, having also coached in the Malden Pop Warner Football organization. As for the displaced Dalton family, a donation fund was started for them at the Salemwood K-8 School, where at least two of the children are believed to be students. Coincidentally, Nice Jr., one of their rescuers, also attended the Salemwood from Grade 1 to Grade 8 before moving on to Malden High School. Nice, Jr. said he is happy no one got hurt, and also that he was able to help. “We did not have time to think about it, we just had to get in there and get them out.” A fire in this unit at 172 Newland St. left a Malden family homeless and three other families temporarily displaced. (Steve Freker Photo) Used the master key to warn other residents Once he, his friend and the police had cleared the first apartment, Nice Jr. said, he used his Housing Authority–issued master to open a second and third unit door in the units next to the apartment that was ablaze, and shouted to the those occupants to “get outside,” not knowing if or when the fire was going to spread. All of this evacuation was done in minutes, just before the arrival of Malden Fire apparatus. “When we arrived we saw heavy smoke and some flames from the back windows,” said MFD Deputy Chief Steve Froio, who led operations at the scene. He said Engine 2 was on scene and that firefighters used 2 1/2inch hose with water to put out the flames. Deputy Chief Froio said a ladder company vented the roof after the fire was out and overhaul operations followed. He added that an eighthour fire watch was conducted as the Malden Fire Investigation Unit did its work. The fire was later deemed caused by an electrical problem. According to a source, a tipped over candle may have started the fire, with spread to electrical wires, leading to the determination of cause. Deputy Chief Froio said one of his firefighters was hobbled by a sprained knee in the course of Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 57 Years! “Same name, phone number & address for family since 1958 • 62 over half a century. 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Sylva before the firefighters’ arrival, as the unit that was on fire was empty when they got there. As an aside, at the same time the fire was racing through the Newland Street apartment other Malden Fire and Malden Police had been dispatched to 166 Salem St., where a concrete parapet had collapsed and fallen to the sidewalk below. There were no injuries reported there as well in that bizarre incident. Nice Jr. is a 2018 Malden High School graduate and a volunteer baseball coach for the GoldSpring! Lawrence A. Simeone Jr. Attorney-at-Law ~ Since 1989 ~ * Corporate Litigation * Criminal/Civil * MCAD * Zoning/Land Court * Wetlands Litigation * Workmen’s Compensation * Landlord/Tenant Litigation * Real Estate Law * Construction Litigation * Tax Lein * Personal Injury * Bankruptcy * Wrongful Death * Zoning/Permitting Litigation 300 Broadway, Suite 1, Revere * 781-286-1560 lsimeonejr@simeonelaw.net
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