STURBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Dozens of people are without a home after a fire tore through a Sturbridge apartment complex early Sunday morning.
Fire crews responding to a 3-alarm structure fire on Main Street around 7 a.m. found dozens of people in the street watching as thick black smoke poured from one apartment inside the building.
“We woke up to the alarm this morning I was up on the third floor,” Dean Frederick said. “We ran outside shortly after looking out and seeing a bunch of smoke. Just enough time to grab some clothes and grab the cat and get out as quickly as possible.”
Doug Robinson said was watching a religious service on TV when he and his wife were forced out of their home.
“The alarm went off and my wife said, ‘What’s that?’ I said it’s on TV I guess,” Robinson said. “She said, ‘Nah it’s not the TV.’ She opened the door and then we could hear the alarms.”
Thick smoke covered the building.
“When you opened the door going to the other end of the building, black smoke just poured out of it. Just like a furnace opened up,” Robinson said.
Residents say this could have been much worse.
“Just seeing a hundred plus people outside all wondering if their livelihoods are going to be there when they go back in and everybody is ok,” Frederick said.
Several surrounding fire departments help to extinguish the fire.
The Red Cross is helping all those impacted.
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