CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Firefighters battled a massive fire on Saturday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CBS Boston reported.

The fire was initially reported as a 9-alarm blaze, but a 10th alarm went out on Saturday afternoon, the Cambridge Police tweeted.

According to CBS Boston, two police officers and one firefighter were injured in the fire.

Fire Marshal says 2 police officers and one firefighter have been injured at Cambridge fire. Haven't said how badly. #WBZ pic.twitter.com/NfDXkSV69g — Brad Tatum (@BradTatum) December 3, 2016

Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick says there have been some injuries reported but none of them are serious. He says the city has opened up a nearby youth center for families displaced from their homes.



A plume of smoke could be seen for miles. Fire crews were called in from surrounding cities and towns.

Firefighters responded to a 9-alarm blaze in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Dec. 3, 2016. CBS Boston/@KatieBraceWBZ

Flames have extended to as many as seven buildings in the area. The building where the fire is believed to have started has collapsed. According to the fire chief, there was construction happening near that building. One of the buildings engulfed in flames is an old church that has been converted to apartment buildings.

Fire was shooting through the roofs of multiple structures.

10th Alarm struck; 7-8 buildings involved — Cambridge Local 30 (@CFD_Local30) December 3, 2016

The fire was reported just before 3 p.m. and reached nine alarms about 30 minutes later. It is not clear exactly where the fire began, but smoke could be seen throughout Boston billowing from the Cambridge buildings.

Firefighters have been called in from Newton, Waltham, Wakefield, and multiple other towns. Eversource said 782 customers are without power due to the fire. </s> Firefighters were battling a major, multiple-alarm fire of several buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the city's fire department said on Twitter.

At least one building was ablaze at Berkshire and Vandine Streets, the Cambridge Fire Department said in a string of tweets.

The Boston Globe and local WCVB-TV reported that 10 alarms had been struck and that several buildings, as well as cars, were on fire.

The newspaper said that the blaze broke out shortly before 3 p.m. eastern (2000 GMT) and that firefighters had been summoned from surrounding communities to help fight the flames.

Globe employee Michael Workman, who lives across the street from the blaze, said that it erupted in a three-family residence that was undergoing renovations and that flames quickly jumped to another home as well as a former church building.

"It went up in a heartbeat. It was just raging ... It was just going so fast. I've never seen anything like that," Workman told the Globe

Images posted WCVB's website showed the street and sidewalk engulfed in flames, billowing thick black smoke, as firefighters poured water onto them from a truck.

Cambridge, located across the Charles River from Boston, is home to both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Neither campus appeared to be threatened from the fire. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Rigby and Alistair Bell) </s> BOSTON (AP) — Firefighters were struggling to put down a large fire that jumped from one building to another across a densely-populated neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

A large plume of smoke was visible for miles as heavy flames engulfed multi-family residential buildings, including a former church that had been converted to condos, and several automobiles.

Cambridge police spokesman Jeremy Warnick said seven buildings were on fire. He said some injuries were reported but none of them seemed serious.

Authorities said Saturday evening that two police officers and one firefighter were hurt but that no residents had been injured.

Fire crews were called in from surrounding cities and towns to help after the first calls came about 2 p.m. Saturday. They were still fighting the blaze long after the sun went down.

Some witnesses said the fire started at a residential building undergoing renovations.

Authorities said power has been shut off in the neighborhood and could remain out for most of the night. The city turned a recreation youth center into a shelter for displaced families. </s> BOSTON (AP) — Authorities say 11 people were injured and dozens of people were displaced by a fire at a Boston apartment building that housed mostly students.

The fire in the five-story building the city's Fenway neighborhood was reported just after 3 p.m. Saturday.

Seven residents were treated for smoke inhalation and four firefighters were injured, including two who were brought to the hospital with injuries not considered life threatening.

Many of the residents were students at Northeastern University, Emerson College and Berklee College of Music. Mayor Marty Walsh says his administration is working with the colleges to make sure the students have alternate housing.

The cause remains under investigation but Fire Commissioner Joe Finn says it appears to have started on the second floor and is not considered suspicious. </s> More than 100 residents, including dozens of college students, in the Boston-area were left without a home after a massive fire blazed through their apartment building, injuring 11.

The seven-alarm fire occurred just after 3 p.m. on Saturday at a five-story apartment building in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. The building is home to 114 residents, 70 of whom are students from Northeastern University, Berklee College of Music, Emerson College and Simmons University, according to the Boston Fire Department. More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene.

Those suffering non-life threatening injuries included six students, four firefighters and one non-student.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh tweeted shortly after the fire, giving his "heartfelt" thank you to first responders who helped ensure "residents could evacuate safely."

"I think it's scary for a lot of people, even parents who have kids around here, not necessarily in this building. But the Fire Department did an incredible job," Walsh, who was on scene Saturday, told NBC Boston.

The mayor also said his administration would work with colleges to make sure students have alternative housing.

According to fire officials, all residents of the building have been displaced and students were provided housing at their schools and non-students were provided shelter by the building manager.

The City of Boston Inspection team is investigating the scene. Officials told NBC News that the cause of the fire remains unspecified but that it appears unintentional. </s> The fire also displaced nearly 100 people, mostly students from Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, and Northeastern University who lived in the five-story building, officials said.

Fire crews used ground ladders to rescue people from 104 Hemenway St., which was destroyed by the fast-moving fire that sent roaring flames and thick smoke into the gray autumn sky.

Battling heavy rain and shifting winds, more than 100 Boston firefighters fought to contain a seven-alarm blaze that injured 11 people at a Fenway apartment building Saturday afternoon rescuing several people, officials said.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the city is working with the colleges to help students find new housing.

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“We’ll make sure everyone is housed in the near future,” Walsh said at an early evening press conference held about a block from the scene.

“It’s a very scary fire here,” he said.

Northeastern University officials issued a statement saying that they are making plans to place students affected by the fire in campus housing. Berklee officials in a statement said they are contacting students living in 98 and 104 Hemenway St. to ensure they have accommodations. Emerson College officials could not be reached for comment.

Firefighters responded at 3:17 p.m. to an alarm at the five-story building, where heavy fire was already underway on the second floor, Fire Commissioner Joe Finn said.

The roof soon collapsed and conditions rapidly deteriorated, forcing firefighters out of the structure shortly before 4 p.m.

“It really traveled pretty fast,” Finn said, addressing reporters at the scene. “It got ahead of us.”

Fire crews were hampered by a nor’easter that swept through Boston Saturday.

“It’s very difficult. The winds keep pushing the [smoke] one way, and then the other,” Finn said.

A pair of firefighters were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, he said. Two other firefighters were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, as well as six residents of the apartment building and an elderly neighbor, said Marc Sanders, a Fire Department spokesman.

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The fire, which quickly grew to multiple alarms, ripped through the brick building, which appeared to be a total loss with damages estimated in the millions of dollars, Finn said.

City property records show the building is owned by Bobson Residential LLC and has an assessed value of $4.2 million.

In a statement Saturday night, the Copley Group, which manages the property, said it is working with fire officials to determine how the fire started.

“Our priority is the safety of our tenants and ensuring that they have temporary housing until we have an opportunity to assess the building,” the statement said.

The fire appears to have originated on the second floor and the cause is under investigation, but is not considered suspicious, Finn said.

He blamed a “lack of sprinklers” for difficulty fighting the fire though he said smoke detectors were working.

At least a half-dozen fire trucks lined Hemenway Street. Ladder trucks were extended to the top of the building. At times, as many as 10 hoses shot water inside the building.

Jade Sal, 20, said she was among the residents rescued.

Sal said she and several neighbors were helped through a window from her third-floor apartment.

When Sal first noticed the fire, she tried to run down the stairs and escape outside, but was blocked by smoke.

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“There was smoke coming from both staircases going down,” said Sal, as she watched the scene from the sidewalk, wrapped in a firefighter’s jacket.

Three nearby apartment buildings at 98, 102, and 108 Hemenway St. were also evacuated Saturday, and it was unclear when those residents — who are also mostly students — will be able to return, Sanders said.

The fire at 104 Hemenway St. was able to spread into the top floor of 108 Hemenway, he said.

Flames could be seen on the roof of the Hemenway Street building Saturday afternoon. (Michael Swensen for The Boston Globe)

Boston firefighters responded to a large apartment complex at 104 Hemenway St. during heavy wind and rain Saturday. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

An exhausted firefighter took a breather at the scene. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Garri Paul cried as she was handed her dog, Jax, by a firefighter who rescued him inside her burning apartment. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Firefighters climbed aerial ladders at the front of the building. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

A firefighter smashed a fifth-floor window. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

A firefighter took off his helmet at the scene. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

A resident overcome with emotion stood under an umbrella. (John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Alana Levene can be reached at alana.levene@globe.com. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com. Lucas Phillips can be reached at lucas.phillips@globe.com. </s> At least one person was killed and more than 20 were injured in Massachusetts Thursday after a series of gas explosions tore through several communities outside Boston, officials said.

Leonel Rondon, 18, was inside his car when a chimney from a house explosion fell on his vehicle, the Essex County District Attorney’s office said. Rondon was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

At least 13 patients were taken to Lawrence General Hospital as a result of the gas fires. The hospital said one critical patient was taken to a trauma center, while the other injuries ranged from minor smoke inhalation to blast trauma.

Later, FOX station Boston 25 reported that more than 20 people had been injured.

Preliminary numbers estimate that between 60 and 100 homes in the Merrimack Valley caught fire in the towns of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, Methuen Police Chief Joseph Soloman said.

Massachusetts State Police (MSP) confirmed on Twitter that at least 70 locations were affected by fires, explosions and "investigations of gas odor."

Residents in the aforementioned towns that are serviced by Columbia Gas of Massachusetts "should evacuate their homes immediately if they have not already done so," police advised. Gas service was shut down by the company to roughly 8,000 customers.

"Numerous evacuations of neighborhoods where there are gas odors are underway," MSP tweeted. Columbia Gas was working to depressurize its gas lines, which "will take some time," while National Grid cut electricity to the three towns "to limit spark-started fires."

Solomon — who noted there were no fires in Methuen but the town's first responders aided areas in need — said that in Lawrence alone, there were roughly 20 to 25 homes on fire. He said there were so many fires "you can't even see the sky."

In the town of Andover, firefighters responded to 38 fires total — all of which have been extinguished. "At peak, 18 fires were burning at the same time," city police said.

Local officials said at least one firefighter and two civilians were injured in the "gas-related fires."

The North Andover Police Department advised residents with gas service in their homes or businesses to "please exit the building until further notice."

Some residents were evacuated from their homes to senior centers and middle schools as officials investigated the situation, police said.

Merrimack College, which is located in North Andover, advised that "in an over abundance of caution," students and faculty needed to evacuate all buildings on campus, but later said all buildings were "safe for re-entry."

Gov. Charlie Baker's office said the governor was "actively monitoring the situations in the Merrimack Valley and is communicating with first responders and public safety officials."

The Columbia Gas company announced earlier Thursday that it would be upgrading gas lines in neighborhoods across the state, including the area where the explosions happened. It was not clear whether work was happening there Thursday, and a spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

Fox News' Stephen Sorace and Andrew Fone and the Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> One person died and about a dozen others were injured in Massachusetts on Thursday as a series of gas-related fires and explosions tore through several communities, authorities said.

Eighteen-year-old Leonel Rondon was killed and at least 12 others were injured in Northern Massachusetts as fires and explosions tore the area, damaging at least two dozen homes and businesses, according to local authorities.

Rondon, a resident of Lawrence, was killed after one of the explosions sent a chimney crashing onto his car, Massachusetts State Police said.

There had been at least three explosions and as many as 80 fires reported as of late Thursday night, authorities said, citing a suspected gas line leak as the cause.

Many residents, including those located in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, were forced to evacuate.

At least 30 homes and businesses caught fire in Andover, and active fires were reported in Lawrence as of early Friday morning, several hours after initial reports surfaced, fire officials said.

“Our city has had a rough day today,” the city of Lawrence said in a statement early Friday morning. “We grieve for the loss ... and continue to support first responders."

MSP Fusion Center has current updated tally of responses to fires/explosions/investigations of gas odor at 70. Spread over wide swath of south #Lawrence and northern part of #NorthAndover with several others across Merrimack River in north Lawrence. pic.twitter.com/a7kBYaWFrJ — Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) September 13, 2018

The Massachusetts State Police Watch Center said it responded to explosions, fires and other gas-related reports at least 70 different addresses. The state’s governor said about 8,000 homes were affected.

Three victims in Andover included included a firefighter and two civilians, authorities said.

Evacuations were taking place in multiple neighborhoods where residents smelled gas, according to state police. Those who live south of the Merrimack River were told to evacuate, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera said at a press conference Thursday night.

Authorities also warned residents in the area who are served by Columbia Gas to "evacuate their homes immediately" as gas lines are being depressurized by the company.

Aerial footage taken by ABC Boston affiliate WCVB showed firefighters battling flames in a residential neighborhood that sent thick plumes of smoke into the air.

WCVB/AP

Residents in Andover were evacuated to a local senior center, while residents in North Andover were directed to a nearby middle school. </s> London firefighters fight massive apartment building fire fearing some might be trapped inside

45 fire engines and over 200 firefighters were called to the scene.

The fire involved a 27 story Grenfell Tower building in the North Kensington area.

Two people have been treated on the scene, but no other injuries are reported. Firefighters fear there may be others trapped inside.
At least three first responders are injured battling a 10-alarm fire that's spread to seven buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts (US).