Multi-Story Home, Constructed Without Fire Stops, To Be Demolished After Blaze

A large house in Stafford was destroyed by an overnight fire and will have to be razed, a fire official said Thursday. No one was injured in the fire, which burned on all three stories of the older house and displaced 11 residents, Fire Chief David Lucia said. Four people who lived in one half of the two-family home were able to escape the flames after being alerted by smoke detectors, he said. The other residents were on vacation and not home. The American Red Cross is helping the occupants find a place to stay. The fire was reported about 2 a.m., Lucia said. It initially burned only in the basement and on the first floor on the left side of the house, Lucia said. But it quickly spread; the house lacked fire stops that keep flames from spreading.