Firefighters rescue 7 from blaze in Methuen

Firefighters rescued seven panicked people by ladder early yesterday as a three-alarm fire rolled through a three-story apartment building in Methuen, officials said.

The fire at 80 Lowell St. began shortly before 4 a.m. in an apartment near a first-floor stairwell, said Lieutenant Jim Mahoney of the Methuen Fire Department. Firefighters saw several people, including a mother and infant, gathered in front of a third-floor window, and they appeared to be panicked, Mahoney said.

"There must have been a tremendous amount of heat coming up that stairwell with the fire below them, and, of course, there's confusion," Mahoney said.

More people rushed to the window as firefighters arrived, Mahoney said. That panic, combined with the fact that most of the building's 29 residents were asleep when the fire broke out, presented extra challenges to firefighters, but they removed seven people down the ladder, Mahoney said.

"The first concern is life safety," he said. "That changes things when you see faces in the window, people trying to jump out of windows. . . . You're trying to get them out on ladders, they're nervous."

About 25 firefighters from Methuen, Lawrence, and Salem were on the scene for several hours, he said. Mahoney said yesterday afternoon that investigators had not determined the cause of the fire. He also did not estimate the extent of the damage. "I would say that tenants are probably going to have to be relocated," he said.

Patrick Baldwin, director of communications for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay, said one person was taken by ambulance to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen for smoke inhalation. He did not know where the second person was taken, or for what injury. Neither was formally admitted to the hospitals. Red Cross volunteers assisted residents and placed five families in a hotel, Baldwin said.

Pat Riopelle, who lives nearby, said she woke up when fire engines arrived on her street. "We saw a lot of smoke in there. The firemen had to get a hole in the roof," said Riopelle, who added that she did not know anyone in the building.

The owner of the building, David Kahan, could not be reached yesterday.

Maddie Hanna can be reached at mhanna@globe.com.