Families displaced in Mattapan blaze
A fire that raged to five alarms in Mattapan last night left a firefighter with minor injuries but the building’s occupants all escaped.
The 7:47 p.m. blaze on Evelyn Street appears to have started in the rear of the building, according to building residents who live on the third floor.
Odania Charles was home with her children and mother when the fire broke out.
“I was mopping the kitchen floor,” she said. “I didn’t smell anything or hear anything. The next thing I know, someone is telling me to get out.”
She said a neighbor knocked on her door and told her about the fire. She said she’s lived in an apartment there for five years, and has been saving to buy a home.
BFD spokesman Steve MacDonald said 15 adults and four children were displaced from the four-story, four-family building. He said the cause of the fire is under investigation. The blaze caused an estimated $500,000 in damage. One firefighter was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.