5 residents hospitalized, firefighter hurt after early morning blaze rips through Boston home

BOSTON — Seven people were rescued from a two-family home early Tuesday morning—five of them taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation.

“Very scary, very scary,” said one neighbor early Tuesday morning as smoke poured out of a two-family home on Academy Hill Road in Brighton.

“I thought it was a dream, I didn’t know exactly what it was coming from until my mother came and woke me up and I wasn’t able to sleep,” said Malkiel Miara, who lives a few houses down from the house that caught fire.

Neighbors who go to the same place of worship as the residents in this home ran outside—looking to help.

“I saw so many trucks so I decided to try to help and do whatever I could, give them water,” said Miara.

Boston Fire says the fire started in the basement and quickly traveled up. The smoke detectors were going off and the people inside were in the process of getting out when firefighters arrived.

“We pulled those people out, five of them went to the hospital with smoke inhalation,” said Patrick Ellis, Chief of Operations for Boston Fire.

The house was built in 1878—and firefighters had to cut several holes into the old building to help ventilate and air out the smoke and fire that was trapped in the walls.

“How many times it’s been renovated over 150 years we don’t know, but a lot of poke-throughs happen when people renovate and there’s void spaces so that’s why when you have a basement fire you often an extension up into the attic, just travels right up through the walls,” said Ellis.

One firefighter also suffered a minor injury and was taken to the hospital as well. Once firefighters clean up the scene, the investigation into what started the early morning fire will begin.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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