Neighbor: Four Dogs Likely Died in Beverly Fire

The neighbor of a North Beverly home that was badly damaged by a two-alarm fire on Monday night said that the four dogs that live in the home were unaccounted for afterward.

“I looked out the window and I saw flames coming from the windows,” said Eric Whitney, who lives across the street from the two-family home at 11 Ellsworth Ave., where the fire broke out at about 9:15 p.m.

Whitney said the homeowner lives on one side and a friend lives on the other side.

There are a total of four pit bills that lives in the building, which he described as “the nicest dogs.” When firefighters arrived they broke down the front door and “none of them came running out.” He said that all four dog likely died in the fire.

Both Whitney’s home, and the home that caught fire, are at the corner of Ellsworth Avenue and MacArthur Road, just off Conant Street and just up from the Second Congregational Church.

He was sitting and watching World Series game 5 on television when the light from the flames – about 30 feet from his home across the street - caught his attention.

Firefighters and police arrived at the home to encounter what they described as a home “fully involved” in fire. It looked like the fire started on the right side of the home, closest to his home, Whitney said.

Nobody was at home when the fire broke out, Whitney said. It did not appear that anybody was injured in the fire.

Firefighters from Danvers, Hamilton and Wenham could be seen at the fire helping Beverly firefighters.

At first firefighters battled the fire by spraying water in the windows from the side and back of the home and flames shot into the air. Later, the ladders from two ladder trucks were extended above the home and started spraying water.