Firefighters Tear Apart Wrong House

BRAINTREE, Mass. -- The Braintree Fire Department is investigating how a firefighter training exercise ended up tearing apart the wrong house.

NewsCenter 5's Rhondella Richardson reported that a Braintree family invited the fire department to conduct a training exercise at their home that was slated to be torn down. But instead of going to 6 Harrison Ave., firefighters ended up a few blocks away at 30 Coolidge Ave.

"My brother called me. He got a phone call and then he called me to come out and look at it," the Coolidge Avenue homeowner's son, Jeffrey Luu, said.

The firefighters were practicing ventilating burning buildings by tearing holes in the roof.

After waiting for the fire department to arrive, contractors ended up demolishing the Harrison Avenue home.

"How can you make that mistake? I don’t know," Luu said. "I want to get the assessment of the damage. I just want to fix the house."

The Coolidge Avenue home was vacant after an electrical fire about 14 months ago. The homeowners were planning to renovate the home.

The town apologized to the family. Fire officials were unavailable for comment, but released a statement that read, "The matter is under internal investigation."