MANCHESTER — A two-alarm fire on Friday afternoon forced several people out of a multi-unit building on Somerville Street, with one firefighter sustaining minor injuries.
Calls reporting the blaze at 741 Somerville Street began at around 3 p.m., with one individual alerting the nearby fire station in person upon seeing smoke emanating from the property.
Manchester Fire Department’s station 7 crew arrived within a minute to find heavy smoke billowing from the second and third floors of the building.
A second alarm was promptly declared due to the building’s size and the fire’s intensity.
Firefighters encountered a significant amount of smoke and flames bursting through the second-floor windows, spreading to the third-floor porch and roofline.
Additional crews deployed backup hand lines and quickly extinguished the fire, while all three ladder trucks conducted an extensive overhaul of the roof and porches.
The five-unit building was home to eight adults and four children, all of whom were evacuated without injury.
Firefighters managed to rescue three cats and a dog, but two cats died in the fire.
Several reptiles were also safely removed.
While battling the blaze, one firefighter was injured but did not require hospitalization.
The fire was brought under control by 3:47 p.m., and after clearance, the building was handed over to property management.
Several surrounding fire departments provided coverage and responded to calls in place of the Manchester Fire Department during the incident.
The Manchester Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.
A tenant from the unit where the fire is believed to have started reported hearing a “popping sound” from the stove before seeing flames.
She mentioned that the gas company had worked on the building earlier that day, but it is unclear if there is any connection to the fire’s origin.
