(Kim Tunnicliffe/WBZ NewsRadio 1030)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Two men are dead after a fire in the city's North End neighborhood early Wednesday morning, marking the city's first fire fatality this year.
The fire first broke out around 1:00 A.M at 282 Hanover Street, a 5-story multi-residential building.
It also houses the Trattoria Il Panino Italian restaurant on the first floor.
Fire officials have determined the cause of the fire from the careless disposal of smoking materials on the second floor.
The roommate of the fire victim found on the second floor tells WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe that he kept asking for her help.
"I started filling a pan of water...it was just fruitless so I said 'Matt we've got to go it's just too big,'" she said. "I ran out the door, I thought he was coming behind me, but I guess he must have been saying to help put the fire out."
A second man died after jumping out of a fifth floor window.
Fire Department of Chief of Operations John Walsh said narrow alleyways in the city's historic neighborhood, made this fire especially difficult to fight.
"Any building down here has presented its challenges to which is getting access to it.....for companies getting in the rear, getting ladders in there and everything else," he said.
Most of the alleyways that section of the city are as wide as 5-feet
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called this fire a sad tragedy.
"It's a sad time of year to have a fire with two losses and other people displaced," Walsh said. "My thoughts and prayers are with the families...the firefighters did a great job battling this down and preventing further loss of life but also it's a tough space to fight a fire on Hanover Street," he said.
Two adults and a child were rescued and 12 people have been displaced.
Damage has been estimated at $1.5 Million Dollars.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports