11-year-old girl escapes Keene apartment fire

KEENE — As 11-year-old Brandy Wilbur did her school work in her Marlboro Street apartment on Thursday she started to smell something burning.

“She was in the living room doing her homework when she smelt something. Then all of a sudden she saw flames coming up behind the gas stove,” said Brandon Wilbur, her father.

Brandy Wilbur made it out of the apartment and was taken to Cheshire Medical Center to get checked out, her father said. She is one of at least three people who were inside the apartment building when the fire started, according to Fire Chief Mark Howard.

Candy Wilbur, the child’s mother, rushed over from her job at the Main Street Cumberland Farms convenience store when news of the fire reached the store. Candy Wilbur was at the scene but overcome by emotions and declined to comment. She soon left to go to the hospital to be with her daughter. Brandon Wilbur said the child was uninjured escaping from the fire and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Brandon Wilbur, a local mechanic, said the family has lived in the second floor apartment for about seven or eight years. He wasn’t sure what the family would do for immediate shelter.

“I don’t know,” he said, watching the fire crews comb through his burned belongings and home.

Kim Arel, the manager at Cumberland Farms said the employees at the store would make sure the family is taken care of.

“We stick together,” Arel said.

Being homeless in winter is tough, she said.

“It’s not great anytime, but to have this happen when it’s so cold is hard,” Arel said

The 16-member team at the convenience store will make sure the Wilbur family has what they need, she said.

The fire was first reported around 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday as a fire with a person trapped inside at the multi-family apartment building at 52 Marlboro St., and fire crews from throughout the Monadnock region responded to give aid to the Keene fire crews.

Howard said there were at least two other people inside the building when crews arrived, and the scene was harrowing.

“One man was exiting via a third story window while firefighters were trying to get up to the second floor with flames showing,” Howard said.

At least three people were taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, Howard said. The building at 52 Marlboro St. is a seven unit apartment building, though Howard is unsure how many of the units are occupied.

The fire was knocked down quickly and firefighters raked the wreckage as they made sure the fire was out. The investigation into the origin of the fire is ongoing.

Howard said all of the units in 52 Marlboro St. are uninhabitable and the American Red Cross has been contacted to assist the families who live there.