Massachusetts

Several Residents Displaced After Fire Tears Through Building in Lynn

Several residents had to be rescued Saturday morning during a fire at an apartment building in Lynn, Massachusetts. The fire is now under control and the investigation into what caused it is underway.

Officials said the fire at the building on Kinsley Avenue started just before 5 a.m. and quickly reached 3 alarms.

Panic is how Mary Callahan, her boyfriend, and children woke up Saturday morning.

"If we stayed there for two more minutes we would have burned to death," she said. "We could have died... my kids would have died."

Barricading themselves in a room in their apartment on the third floor, desperate to survive, they broke a window and luckily fire crews were right there in the nick of time.

Lynn District Chief Steve Archersaid that they "had to rescue quite a few people out of the building," because the fire conditions on the stairways were so bad that the residents were unable to use the stairwells to escape.

According to officials, 12 other units were damaged.

Callahan and her family said they are thankful they escaped the rising flames and smoke, but they can not help but worry about what is next.

"Where am I going to live? Everything in our apartment is burnt," she said. "I want to know if my stuff is OK."

The Red Cross is helping to place people in temporary housing. The exact number of those displaced is unknown.

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