Boylston Street Fire Displaces Three Families

Malden firefighters extinguished a fire on the second floor of a three-story Boylston Street apartment building on Saturday afternoon that will displace the three families that live there at least for the night and probably the weekend.

A working fire was reported at 70 Boylston St. at approximately 1:50 p.m. By 2:25 p.m., the fire was out and firefighters were rolling up hoses.

Melrose Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Finn said the fire was generally contained to only one room in the second floor apartment because the tenants made a "smart move" by shutting the door to the room before getting out of the building.

"They saw it, got out, shut the door and saved a lot of damage," Finn said. "The guys did a fantastic job. It's really just limited to that one room. Even the water damage to the first floor apartment wasn't much. They did a fantastic job."

Finn said he's working with the Red Cross to find housing for the six adults and nine children who will be displaced by the fire for at least Saturday night and likely Sunday night as well. All were home at the time of the fire.

Power was cut to the building as precautionary measure, as some of the power wires got wet and damaged during the fire, Finn said.

The cause of the fire wasn't immediately determined. Firefighters were examining fire damaged items on the side of the house and asking tenants questions about what items might have been plugged in when the fire started.

"Right now we don't really have an official cause," Finn said. "They're going to go back and talk about it with the electrical inspector and fire investigator."