March 28--A raging six-alarm fire torched a trio of triple-deckers in Dorchester last night, causing more than $1 million in damage in what fire officials described as a "firestorm" that sent residents running for their lives.
No injuries were reported.
The fire broke out about 6:45 p.m. and scorched the rear porches of two buildings on Fox Street and another on neighboring Juliette Street.
Residents scrambled to evacuate, with about 40 people displaced.
Damage was estimated at $1.2 million, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
"I'm thanking more than God tonight," said Quianna Carrington, who lives in one of the Fox Street buildings.
She said she had just arrived home from work and went to lay down on the couch for a nap when a neighbor pounded on the door and told her to get out. She said she grabbed her son, 7, and her daughter, 10, and scurried to safety.
"I didn't grab a jacket. ... I didn't put on any shoes. I just ran out of the house," she told the Herald.
Carrington said she was about to run back into the house to look for her father, but was relieved to see before she braved the flames that he was safe on the street.
One cat was rescued from the fire and is expected to survive, fire officials said. No firefighters or civilians were reported injured. MacDonald called the tight-knit homes a perfect environment for the "firestorm." It is still unknown what caused the fire.
Dozens of pieces of Fire Department apparatus choked the streets around the fire scene, with at least four ladder trucks jammed in among pumpers, ambulances and police cars.
Despite the narrow streets in the Ronan Park neighborhood, MacDonald said the trucks had no problem making it to the scene.
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