4-Alarm Fire Tears Through Dorchester Home

DORCHESTER (CBS) -- "It's devastating. It's something you have to experience to know what its like"

Still stunned, they emerge from a burned-out 3-story home, now looking for a new place to live.

Residents of a huge apartment house on Harlem Street in Dorchester, victims of a 4-alarm fire on Sunday.

The Boston Fire Department said they responded to the blaze around 12:40 p.m. Sunday, and found a heavy fire in the rear of the building.

Around 1:15 p.m., they said the heavy fire had been knocked down.

One firefighter was treated for minor burns to his leg.

None of the occupants were injured.

The Red Cross says eight people were living in the building - six adults and two children.

"I always say that it's not Katrina to everybody else, but it is to them. It's like their own personal Katrina. They've lost everything that they've stored up. When a fire goes through your home and burns everything that you own, it's something that it takes years to come back from," Lisa Contee of the Red Cross said.

Boston Fire Chief Joseph Finn estimated the damage at $350,000.

Investigators said the fire was caused by a short circuit in a power strip on the first floor.

"The fire went from floor one up to floor two and floor three as well as the attic at this time the companies made a good attack...knocked it down." Boston Deputy Fire Chief Andre Stallworth said.

In:
• Fire
• Dorchester