Six-Alarm Charlestown Fire Damages Multiple Buildings: Video

BOSTON, MA — As the temperature climbed to 90 degrees, first responders battled the smoke and the heat at a massive, wind-swept Charlestown fire Thursday.

NECN has more extensive footage here.

According to the Boston Fire Department, firefighters arrived around 1:45 p.m. at 284-86 Bunker Hill Street. The blaze reached six-alarm status less than an hour later. Boston Fire Commissioner Joe Flynn was in command on the scene.

Fire companies expect to keep working on Bunker Hill Street through the night. As of 5 p.m., the heaviest fire is now out, but the fire department reports it is still chasing "many hot spots" in the buildings.

No residents were reported injured, but three firefighters were treated and transported to nearby Mass. General Hospital to get checked out. Several other firefighters were evaluated at the scene, the fire department said.

As the day wore on, the fire spread from the original, 10-unit building to 282 Bunker Hill St., a three-unit building next door. All residents from both buildings lost their homes Thursday, although the fire departments said it does not yet know how many people lived in the 13 units. Pictures show the homes charred from the flames.

In the midst of battling the first blaze, Boston Fire said a second fire broke out at 9 Cook St., roughly 200 yards away. The fire department said its cause was "most likely" embers from the Bunker Hill Street fire.

Dark smoke was visible from a distance, wafting far above the buildings in Charlestown and choking the ground below. Social media has been flooded by users catching sight of the billowing smoke, as the fire continues to burn into the evening.

Boston firefighters earlier in the day knocked down a separate fire that had ripped through a Dorchester home.

Patch will update this breaking story.

>> Photos via Boston Fire Dept. and courtesy Twitter user Roy D. Todd II