LOWELL, Mass. -- A fire of undetermined origin gutted a crowded three-story tenement building in Lowell's Hispanic section early today, killing eight people, including five children.
The arson squad was called in to investigate what authorities said was the worst fire in 10 years in the city, but there was no immediate indication the building was torched, authorities said.
Members of two families died in their apartments in the three-story wood tenement that contained about six apartments. Seven people escaped, Deputy Fire Chief Thomas O'Connell said.
Killed in a third floor front apartment were Nancy Velasquez, 18, Efrain Mendez, 21, Efrain Jr., 2, and Jose Luis Cortes, 10 months.
The victims in the first floor apartment were Adelaida Ferrer, 32, and her children Javel Collon, 5, Joseph Collon, 2, and Agutin Collon, 4.
The fire broke out at 1:03 a.m. in the first floor front apartment kitchen and spread rapidly through the house. At one point, flames shot from nearly every window in the dwelling.
'I looked out my window and saw a few flames out the window at the top of the building,' Joseph Janowicz, a resident of a building across the street said. 'I got dressed and the whole front was all in flames.'
O'Connell said the building was fully involved before firefighters ever left the station.
'There was a sheet of flame as we drove up Decatur street,' O'Connell said.
One survivor said he was asleep when the fire broke out.
'My wife woke me up because of the smoke,' Virgilio Flores, a first floor tenant in the fire ravaged building said. 'I broke a window and got my two kids out.'
Firefighters had trouble getting to the scene because of the extremely narrow street and witnesses said the trucks were unable to pull up directly in front of the building.
Many survivors said they had no idea where they would stay, but officials said they would be taken to Red Cross shelters or would stay with relatives.
Officials said some victims apparently never woke up and were found in their beds.
Fire Chief John Mulligan said authorities were unable to locate any fire warning systems in the building, and an arson investigator said a smoke alarm might have prevented the tragedy.
'We feel no one would have died if there had been an alarm system,' investigator Harold Waterhouse said.
Two firefighters were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.
A spokeswoman at St. Joseph's Hospital said one woman and a young boy who lived in the house also were treated and released.
