21 Left Homeless After 3-Alarm Fire in Multi-Unit Building

Twenty-one people are left without a place to live after flames destroy the second and third floor of a multi-unit building in Northbridge, Massachusetts.

Firefighters were on the scene Sunday, investigating what caused the flames to rip through the D Street building. Officials say the fire, which eventually hit three alarms, began in a vacant apartment on the second floor, causing problems for firefighters.

"That's where we live," said resident Denise Dugas. "That's our home."

Dugas says she was awakened by her fiance around 5 a.m., adding that she's worried she's lost everything in the fire.

"I have two 19-year-old daughters who have nothing to wear now, nothing," she said. "You look at the loss and say, 'how do you replace it?'"

"It's quite a large building, so the fire gets up into the attic and it just travels from one way to the other, it has no stoppage up there," said Northbridge Fire Deputy Chief Steven Dupre.

For Dugas, watching the flames destroy her home is only a painful reminder of devastation from her past.

"I suffered a fire 20 years ago, as well," she said through tears. "It feels like everything I've gained and bought, everything we have, is literally up in smoke."

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