FILE PHOTO
Firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at 13-1/2 Lowell St. early Tuesday morning.
BY ADAM SWIFT AND THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at 13-1/2 Lowell St. early Tuesday morning.
Crews confined the fire to the third floor of the triple-decker, according to District Chief Michael McBride.
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said the cause of the fire was electrical that started above the third floor.
Second-floor resident Estefani Vasquez said her father woke her and her sister up at 3:20 a.m. and got them out of the building.
“I smelled smoke and saw flames as we were coming up the hallway as we all got out,” said Vasquez.
Vasquez, a junior at Lynn Classical High School, said most of the residents in the triple-decker are natives of Guatemala. She said 14 adults and two children lived in the building.
McBride said the fire went to three alarms as crews concentrated on Lowell Street, off Summer Street.
“It’s really congested in the area,” said McBride. “They did an awesome job of getting the ladders in.”
One firefighter was treated and released from a local hospital for heat exhaustion, McBride said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Vasquez said she will stay with an aunt in Lynn tonight and for the near future. She added that most of the Lowell Street residents will be staying with friends or relatives.
Adam Swift can be reached at [email protected]. Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
