Six families were displaced and a firefighter suffered a shoulder injury after a fire tore though a public housing building in South Boston Friday evening.
Crews knocked down the fire on Orton Marotta Way around 4:30 p.m.
"I was sleeping, my son said 'Mommy, Mommy, fire,'" resident Nilda Hernandez. recalled.
The fire began in a first floor unit.
Edward Pagan says it started with a deep fryer in his family's apartment.
His mother and grandmother were there at the time. He says they had to dodge flames to escape. A broken door handle at the front door delayed their exit.
"She tried to actually evacuate from the front door because the kitchen is toward the back door, but the door actually wouldn't open, so she actually went through the flames and got out the back door," said Pagan.
Many residents were in their apartments when the fire broke out.
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Mary Bond says she was sleeping, and she's grateful she was woken up.
"A lot of banging on my door," said Bond. "And I didn't smell no smoke until I came outside, ran for air."
There were several people who jumped into action to help, including Kristyn Pyne, who was walking by the building and ran inside to make sure everyone was out.
"The kitchen, the ground, everything was completely engulfed," said Pyne. "The smoke was very thick, I had to use my scarf to even breathe to get in there."
Neighbor Kenny Henderson did his part as well. After a firefighter injured his shoulder, he needed help getting a hydrant going.
"So he asked me if I could put the thing on the hydrant and turn it," said Henderson. "I turned it until the water came on."
Fire officials say the injured firefighter is expected to be OK.
