BROOKLINE, Mass. --
A four-alarm fire burned a house to the ground in about 30 minutes early Sunday morning.
NewsCenter 5s Todd Kazakiewich reported the building was undergoing renovation and that no one was living there. But somehow the building caught fire and caught sleeping neighbors off guard.
I got up and quickly got dressed and the fireman was trying to knock my door down, said neighbor Francine Welty. We couldn't get out the side entrance because the flames from the house next door were too close.
Two nearby homes suffered some damage and 120 residents were forced to evacuate.
"The first arriving officers that I spoke to said that there was fire coming out of every wall, every window when they got here," said Brookline Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike O'Reilly.
The side of the house was melted off by the heat, and there is minor damage inside.
Everyone escaped from the seven-unit condominium-conversion next door to the burning building.
Seniors from another building, an elderly housing complex, were evacuated because of heavy smoke. They joined the condo residents and were taken by MBTA buses to a school where they waited for several hours.
Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, according to the Brookline Fire Department.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
