BOSTON (WHDH) - As flames scorched a triple-decker home in South Boston Tuesday night, neighbors risked their lives to save those trapped inside.
The heavy blaze broke out on Mercer Street around 8 p.m., sending raging flames and billowing smoke into the air.
Tim Irwin sprang into action when he realized people were still inside.
“I ran down to the fire and there was a 90-year-old woman in a wheelchair that we ended up pulling out with another guy,” he said. “Then, I actually kicked the side door in and there was a lady on the third floor with smoke pouring over her, but we couldn’t get up to her because it was too high.”
Irwin recalled the heat of the intense flames kept him back, but he tried to do what he could until firefighters arrived.
“The heat was ridiculous,” he said. “Once we got past pretty much the entry, we couldn’t get much further because the smoke and the heat was too hot.”
Firefighters rushed to the home and rescued the woman Irwin could not get to.
Two residents and three firefighters were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, fire officials said.
The fire displaced five people from their home, which sustained an estimated $800,000 in damages.
The cause remains under investigation.
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