Three-Alarm Fire Destroys Mass. Apartment Building

A three-alarm fire ripped through a multi-family home in Leominster on Saturday. It took close to two hours to bring the fire under control.

Firefighters were called to 35 Boutelle St. at 10 a.m., and found heavy smoke from the top floor of the large two-and-a-half story home. The structure was home to six families and the residents had evacuated on arrival.

Crews encountered water problems and were forced to lay hose from a distance. They made two interior attacks, but were pulled out as fire conditions deteriorated.

As firefighters vented the top floor windows, heavy flames engulfed the second floor.

Leominster Ladder 1 was set up to provide vertical ventilation and later used its aerial pipe to knock back the heavy flames.

Firefighters surrounded the building with two and a half-inch hoselines and deck guns to control the fire.

The fire was placed under control in about two hours.