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Cambridge firefighters rescue one person trapped on third floor in triple-decker blaze

Cambridge firefighters battled a 2-alarm blaze in a multifamily home on River Street early Wednesday morning, rescuing one person who was trapped on the third floor.

One firefighter was treated for a minor ankle injury that occurred during the rescue, the assistant Fire Chief Thomas Cahill told the Globe.

Firefighters evacuated eight people and one cat from the triple-decker at 171-173 River Street early Wednesday, after flames erupted on the building’s second floor.

One resident was rescued from the third floor of the building with a 35-foot ladder and was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The Cambridge Fire Department received calls about a stove or oven fire beginning at 12:28 a.m., and a second alarm was struck at 12:40 a.m. They arrived to find “heavy fire” in the building and closed off River Street for an “extended period.”

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The department is investigating the cause of the fire. There is “significant damage” to the house’s roof, but the building “appears salvageable at this time,” the department told the Globe.

“They had heavy fire on the second floor. It was on River Street, I guess, but as you can tell, the building’s tucked about 60, 70 feet behind. The main house was on River Street. They made an aggressive attack on the second floor,” Cahill told NBC 10.

Red Cross Massachusetts is aiding those displaced by the fire, the department said.


Anjali Huynh was a Globe intern in 2022.Follow her on Twitter @anjalihuynh.