CAMBRIDGE (WBZ-AM) -- A blaze burned through two buildings in East Cambridge Monday morning, leaving nine families displaced.
The fire began around 5:40 a.m. at a triple-decker on Hunting Street, and had grown to four alarms about an hour later. Cambridge Fire Chief Gerard Mahoney told WBZ NewsRadio's Kendall Buhl the flames moved very quickly, and spread to an adjacent four-story brick building.
Crews were ordered to evacuate the building around 5:13 a.m. due to heavy smoke, and were still fighting the flames around 8 a.m., with thick, dark smoke pouring out the windows of the buildings.
"Firefighters tend to want to go inside to put the fire out, that's kind of our instinct," Mahoney said. "Conditions like this, you have to pull everybody out. It's a tough decision, but you gotta pull everybody out, because the safety of the firefighter is number one."
A total of 17 people from nine families were displaced, and Mahoney said there were minor injuries from slipping and falling in the icy conditions. The Red Cross was at the scene.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.