Damage from 4-alarm blaze set at $1m

Sisters alert all at 6-unit house

A four-alarm fire caused $1 million in damage to a Dorchester apartment building yesterday and also briefly trapped Boston firefighters in a basement filled with thick, black smoke, fire officials said. No firefighters or residents were seriously injured.

The fire in the six-family apartment building on Colonial Avenue was discovered shortly after 10 a.m. and flames quickly traveled up the walls because the building's interior did not have fire breaks between floors, said department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

"There were some anxious moments," said MacDonald.

At one point while firefighters were in the basement, where the fire is believed to have started, an officer called a "mayday" because the fire was moving too quickly towards them, he said.

MacDonald said about 10 firefighters were in the basement applying water directly onto flames when an officer standing near the bulkhead noticed that the fire was growing more powerful. "Fire was all around," MacDonald said. "He saw the fire was starting to move. He struck the mayday to get them out."

Michael Stella, owner of the fully-rented building, said that when he arrived it looked like firefighters had the upper hand. But minutes later, he said, he saw a wall of flames shooting 6 feet into the air on the building's roof.

"The fire department is so good, I am not used to seeing this," Stella said in an interview at the scene. He said he owns buildings encompassing 100 apartments in the city and has never lost one to fire during the past 25 years as a landlord.

Stella said he was relieved that no firefighters were seriously injured and that all of his tenants and their children escaped unharmed.

"Safety, their [firefighters'] safety included, is first," said Stella who installed a central smoke alarm system in the building six months ago. It worked, residents said. "Buildings can be rebuilt."

Late yesterday, fire officials said the building sustained $1 million in damage. The American Red Cross was assisting the estimated 18 adults and seven children forced out of their homes.

MacDonald said two firefighters were transported to Boston hospitals, one with smoke inhalation and the second with a broken wrist. Both were expected to be treated and released.

A dog was killed in the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, MacDonald said.

Junie Stewart said she was asleep in her first-floor apartment when she was startled by the sound of screaming smoke alarms - and suddenly saw black smoke billowing up from the basement.

"I wake up everybody, shouting 'Fire! Fire!' " said Stewart, who was draped with a blanket she had managed to grab as she fled. "The smoke was very dark. You couldn't see nothing."

Stewart, and her sister Mary Stewart Roland, who shares the apartment, shouted at other residents as they hurried outside to safety, they said.

"It just came up from the basement," said Roland.

Dianna Miles and her three daughters were not at home when the fire broke out. But she was alerted by the landlord to the trouble and rushed to the scene, mostly to make sure her neighbors were OK.

"It was very disturbing" to see her home of the past six months on fire, she said. "But everyone is safe."

Miles said she has family she can turn to for help, but said she had no idea how she was going to start over. She was confident that her faith would guide her.

"It's God's will," she said of the fire. "He will make a way. He will provide."