BOSTON (WHDH) - An elderly woman was hospitalized after a fire broke out inside her apartment in Brighton on Wednesday morning.

Firefighters responding to a reported fire at 95 Washington St. around 4 a.m. evacuated the fourth, fifth and sixth floors after finding heavy smoke conditions, according to the Boston Fire Department.

They determined the fire had started in a fifth-floor apartment where a 90-year-old woman lives, Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey said.

She was found unconscious in a hallway but became alert while being transported to a hospital. She is being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.

“Luckily she got out the door. That probably saved her life,” Dempsey said. “We’d be talking differently right now if she didn’t.”

Denise Henderson, who also lives in a fifth-floor apartment, recalled seeing the smoke before evacuating the building with her dog.

“I’d seen smoke coming in the hallway, so when I turned to open the door, I heard all of the commotion and everything,” she said. “I was afraid. I was very afraid.”

Crews put out the flames and began venting the heavy smoke from the building.

Residents on the lower floors who were not affected by the fire were asked to shelter in place.

About 40 people have been displaced.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

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