Above: Photos courtesy of NKFD.

Three North Kingstown firefighters were injured Sunday while working a fire at a 6,600-square-foot house in the private neighborhood of Pojac Point in the Quidnessett area of North Kingstown. East Greenwich was first called at around 11 a.m. to cover for NKFD but once the scene was evaluated, they were called to the fire.

The fire was contained pretty quickly but not before one firefighter injured a knee, another had to be treated for heat exhaustion and chest pains – both taken to South County Hospital – and a third was taken to Kent Hospital with facial injuries after being struck by a hose coupling, according to NK Fire Chief Scott Kettelle.

EGFD’s Rescue 1 was taking one of the firefighters to South County Hospital when a Fed Ex driver on Pojac Point Road clipped the rescue truck’s side mirror, sending glass flying onto the driver. Because of a shortage of rescue trucks in the area midday Sunday, the driver – who had some small cuts from the glass – continued to the hospital with the patient.

The house sustained “significant smoke and heat damage throughout,” Kettelle said, with heavy fire damage to three rooms on the second floor.

The homeowners were present at the time of the fire, which Kettelle said was a good thing. “If if they weren’t it would have been an entirely different outcome.”

Capt. Ken Montville managed the East Greenwich response.