FALL RIVER, MASS. (WHDH) - An apartment building in Fall River is being torn down after a woman and her passenger were killed, multiple firefighters were hospitalized and dozens of people were displaced Tuesday when her car slammed into the complex and sparked a massive fire, officials said.

Fall River Fire Chief John Lynch announced Wednesday morning that crews would be demolishing the Four Winds Apartments on North Main Street after flames continued to reignite overnight.

“We’re going to be bringing in some excavators and we’re going to start tearing this building down,” he said. “The only way we’re going to be able to put this out is to tear it out and start getting at the voids because there’s still a lot of fire, but we can’t reach it from the outside with the water.”

Video from Sky7 HD showed smoke still billowing from the rubble as demolition crews tore the building to the ground.

Emergency crews responding to a reported car crash at the complex around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday found a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix that had rammed into a laundry room area and ruptured a gas line, according to a spokesman for the Bristol District Attorney’s Office.

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The driver, 72-year-old Judith Mauretti, of Fall River, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mauretti’s passenger, 75-year-old Linda Leahey, also of Fall River, was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital with critical injuries. She later succumbed to her injuries.

Police believe Mauretti was speeding before she plowed 15 feet into the building, which was evacuated after the crash.

Resident Bill Driscoll said the building shook before flames quickly shot up to the roof.

“I went out in the hall to look and there was smoke,” he recalled. “Then I looked out from the landing on the second floor and there was all black smoke.”

More than 100 firefighters responded to the initial blaze. At one point, crews were forced to retreat as flames pushed out from the building’s windows.

Seven firefighters were taken from the scene and treated for minor injuries, Lynch said.

The Red Cross is assisting an estimated 80 people who were displaced by the fire.

Deb Steele told 7News that she had just gotten up to make her coffee when she heard a loud explosion and checked the laundry room.

“I (saw) flames and smoke come from under the door, and I heard a car horn blowing, so I figured a car went through,” she said. “So I woke my husband up to get out.”

There was no working sprinkler system in the building, according to investigators.

No one inside was injured.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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