FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - One person was taken to the hospital and 12 are displaced after a triple decker went up in flames in Fitchburg Thursday morning.
Crews responding to the blaze on Plymouth street just after 7:30 a.m. found heavy smoke and fire in the basement, according to Deputy Fire Chief Patrick Roy.
Roy says firefighters knocked down the flames within half an hour and helped people from the top floor down the stairs.
“We’re an aggressive department, and these guys did phenomenal,” Roy said.
Neighbors could be seen comforting one another as residents tried to salvage what they could.
Abraham Atevevo, his wife, and their kids were all on the third floor when the fire started. He says they got down the stairs with their two dogs, but their cat didn’t make it, and now everything they had is charred and gone.
“I heard somebody screaming ‘call the fire department,’ and when I opened the room door, I saw all the smoke,” Atevevo said.
Emergency management and the Salvation Army are assisting those displaced.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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