A good Samaritan’s wrong turn helped save two people from a burning home in Chelsea Saturday night.
Bonnie Ball, 28, and her sister had just gotten lost on their way from Lynn to Chelsea when they saw a three-alarm fire tearing through two homes on Crescent Street. Everyone in 375 Crescent St. had left but no one had alerted the people in the house next door that their roof had caught on fire.
The Lynn natives banged on the door to 373 Crescent and helped the two people inside get their dog and valuables out of the home, Ball said. The elderly couple didn’t even know the fire was occurring because they were on the first floor, she said.
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“I’m excited that I could help somebody else out, because if we weren’t here, honestly, I think they would have went up in flames, too,” Ball said.
According to Fire Chief Robert Houghton, more than 12 people were in the two homes, but there were no serious injuries. He said that the snow and slippery conditions made it difficult to fight the fire. The fire was under control by about 9:30 p.m., and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
The fire began in the second floor of 375 Crescent and spread to the second home, whose roof eventually collapsed, Houghton said. Engines from Everett, Revere, and Malden were called to the scene.
“Both buildings became engulfed in flames. All occupants were removed before any type of heavy fire,” Houghton said.
Ball said she had survived a house fire when she was a child and knew the trauma it can cause. She offered the couple clothes she had in her car to provide some comfort.
“It was like something sent us here to help somebody,” Ball said.
Erin Kelley, the daughter of the woman in 373 Crescent, said Ball and her sister had rescued her mother and her boyfriend.
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“They knocked on the door. They let them know, ‘Hey, your house is burning down,’ and they had just enough time,” Kelley said.
Kelley, who declined to provide the names of the couple for privacy reasons, said she was grateful that Ball has gotten lost and acted fast.
“Those people that drove by, we owe them a lot,” Ball said.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs can be reached at zolan.kanno-youngs@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @KannoYoungs