CAMBRIDGE (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A nine-alarm fire in Cambridge overnight was under control Sunday morning as firefighters worked to manage occasional flare-ups and hot spots in two of the three buildings the fire had reached.
The Cambridge Fire Department says the fire in the Cambridgeport neighborhood was reported just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday and quickly moved from two alarms to nine. They say the rapidly moving fire started in a vacant three-story building and spread to two other occupied apartment buildings.
"It just would not go down," said neighbor Erica Peterson. "It was unlike anything I've ever seen."
Cambridge Police Department spokesman Jeremy Warnick says there was a heavy response to the fire at 159 Allston St., as homes in the area are close together. No injuries were reported.
The Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter at the nearby Morse School for displaced residents or those who need support, including food and shelter. The relief organization estimates that at least 30 people were displaced from the fire.
"We're just all happy to be alive, and blessed" said Shaq Anderson, who graduated last month from Cambridge Rindge & Latin school and lived in one of the buildings with his mother and brother. He added that though they've lost everything, they're all just "material things" and that "a person's life can't be given back."
All of the buildings involved have been deemed uninhabitable. Fire officials are working to determine the cause of the blaze.
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