4-alarm fire guts Cambridge three-family house

10 families are displaced; damage said to cost $2.5m

Cambridge firefighters battled a four-alarm fire this morning that affected three houses on Lexington Avenue. ''The fire had a very good head start,'' Fire Chief Gerald Reardon told reporters. Three firefighters were injured in the blaze. (Globe Staff Photo / George Rizer)

CAMBRIDGE - A raging four-alarm fire destroyed a three-family house yesterday and damaged two others, though a city firehouse is just a few doors from where the original fire broke out, officials and neighbors said.

The fire was first noticed shortly after 8 a.m., as it roared up the back porch of a house at 74-78 Lexington Ave. in the city's West Cambridge neighborhood. The firehouse is located at 167 Lexington Ave., less than a 10th of a mile away.

"The fire had a very good head start," Fire Chief Gerald Reardon told reporters.

First firefighters on the scene encountered "heavy smoke and a fire along the rear of the building."

Three firefighters were injured battling the blaze, which caused an estimated $2.5 million in damage. Officials said two firefighters were treated and released for falls and back injuries. A third firefighter was admitted to a local hospital for smoke inhalation. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, Reardon said.

In one indication of how fast the fire spread, a neighbor said he left his home at 7:55 a.m. and saw nothing amiss. He returned at about 8:30 a.m., and the street was choked with fire trucks and the blaze was roaring out of the roof of 74-78 Lexington Ave., he said.

"The upper story was just fully, fully engulfed in flames," said Lovett, who lives across the street. "There was a scary amount of fire."

Lovett said he knew the homeowners and could imagine how much they lost. "You felt like crying as you were looking at it," he said

The Red Cross was assisting some of the estimated 10 families displaced by the fire, a spokesman said.

The heavy flames and intense heat from the original fire scene charred one neighboring house but also jumped across to ignite the roof and attic of a third house, a single-family residence owned by the Society of Jesus. The first alarm was struck at 8:13 a.m. and the fourth at 8:40 a.m., officials said.

The Rev. Ronald Mercier said he is one of three Jesuits living at 80 Lexington Ave. He said he left home at 7:30 a.m. and then rushed back after being alerted to the fire by a telephone call about 8:30 a.m.

"We are all safe," Mercier said later. "Everything else? Who cares?"

Radiant heat forced firefighters to drench 68-70 Lexington Ave., causing smoke and water damage inside. A resident, who asked that his name not be published out of privacy concerns, said he was awakened by a "crackling sound."

He looked out his window, which is in the rear of the building, and saw flames.

"I saw the fire when it was fresh," he said. "I saw a big, orange fire going up the back of the house. It was going upward as if it was blown by a breeze."

The blaze was a block off Fresh Pond Parkway near Mount Auburn Cemetery. The neighborhood is a historic district with many two- and three-story houses.