A man who was pulled from a two-alarm house fire in Dorchester Monday morning later died, officials said.
Firefighters were able to get into the three-story building quickly and find the man inside, but he was pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center, officials said.
The cause of death has not been determined.
Four people were displaced. The fire caused an estimated $400,000 in damage.
Firefighters arrived on Homes Avenue at about 6:25 a.m. to find flames coming from the third floor, officials said. The fire was largely knocked down by 7 a.m.
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.
Christopher Hall, 62, who lives on the third floor of the building, sat on the stoop across the street from his burned-out condo. He was barefoot and wearing a tank top and shorts. The body of his dog, China, was covered in a blanket beside him.
“My dog is dead,” he said, as his eyes filled with tears.
Magalie Casseus, 52, a neighbor who lives across the street, did her best to comfort Hall.
“I closed the dog’s eyes,” she said. “And then I gave him my sneakers to put on.”
Hall said he woke up around 6 a.m. and found a television set broken on the floor. He went to the bathroom and heard his housemate banging on the door. They got into a scuffle, and the housemate came at him with a metal tabletop, Hall said.
Hall tried to go back to sleep. The next thing he knew, Hall saw smoke, and he called for his dog.
“C’mon, we gotta get out of here,” he said. He thought his dog was behind him when he started to make his way out, but then noticed it wasn’t.
“So I went back up, and the smoke was thick I couldn’t go through it,” he said.
Hall said he saw flames coming from his housemate’s bedroom.
Marlon Fig, who lives on the second floor, was at work when she found out about the fire. When she arrived, she rushed to the front door and began to weep. She told the firefighters that her cat might still be inside. Sure enough, she was. A firefighter walked outside cradling the cat, Penny, in his arms, and handed her to Fig.
Penny was wet and smelled like smoke, but otherwise appeared to be OK.
“They were very nice to go back and find her,” she said.
Fig said she had moved out while her apartment was undergoing renovations and just moved back on Aug. 10. She said she wasn’t sure where she was going to stay.
“I don’t know how we’re going to manage,” she said.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney.