MALDEN, Mass. --
A six-alarm fire at a large apartment complex in Malden injured six people and sent dozens of others fleeing outdoors during a frosty cold spell on Saturday morning.
Firefighters rescued one woman after the fire broke out in a fifth-floor apartment at 505 Pleasant St. at about 5:30 a.m., Malden fire officials said. The woman who was rescued and two other residents were treated for smoke inhalation.
Paramedics said three firefighters were also injured in the blaze, which drew out fire companies from 15 towns. One firefighter suffered a shoulder injury, another suffered a back injury and a third was treated for an ankle injury.
"It looked like something out of a movie," said Elodie Barboza, who escaped from her second-floor apartment with her mother. "I was in the bathroom actually, just waking up, and the alarm went off at first. We just opened the door because … sometimes it's a false alarm. But we just threw on whatever we could throw on and left."
Evelyne Lopez said she was jolted awake by fire alarms as smoke began to pour out of the building.
"I said to my daughter, 'Let's go, let's go out.' The smoke already (came) out. We could smell it. It was so thick," Lopez said.
Malden paramedics were waiting outside as Lopez and her daughter emerged onto the street to find flames leaping from the top floor of the building on the reverse side.
"It was just scary not knowing what's going on and I was just praying that everyone was OK because, seeing that building, someone could have been in there," she said.
Assistant Fire Chief Jack Colangeli said 40 people were displaced by the fire. They were transported to Salemwood Elementary School, which was being used as a temporary shelter and rehabilitation center. Another eight residents were keeping warm on an MBTA bus that was brought to the apartment building as firefighters knocked down the blaze.
Red Cross officials were interviewing displaced residents to assess their needs on Saturday, a spokeswoman said.
"I'm a little stranded, by myself over here in the United States," said one resident. "We'll figure one way or the other what we're going to do."
While residents tried to figure out their next moves, investigators continued to probe what set off the fire. State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said investigators have no evidence to suggest the blaze was suspicious.
"There's good collaborating witness evidence that points us to a particular apartment and an area in an apartment that we're concentrating on," Coan said.
Copyright 2010 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
