Three people were rescued on Sunday morning during a fire at a residential complex in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
The fire broke out shortly after 7:30 a.m. Sunday. It started in a second floor unit.
"It looked like hell in my living room," Oscar Argueta said. "I could’ve been dead. I was scared."
Argueta, his roommate, and his girlfriend were able to escape, but he fears for the lives of their seven cats.
On the floor above, firefighters rescued three people who were trapped through a window.
"They were unable to get to that interior stairway, so they went to that window and that’s where the firefighters from tower 1 were able to get their aerial to the third floor window, and pull them into the bucket of the tower ladder," Chelsea Fire Chief John Quatieri said.
The three people rescued, all adults, were taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. No other injuries among residents or firefighters were reported.
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Firefighters were still searching for unaccounted for pets at last check.
Up to 16 people are now without a place to stay following the fire.
"Looking to help displaced occupants and get them into some temporary housing," Chief Quatieri said. "The city does a great job with that. We’ll hand that off to our emergency management."
The focus now turns to finding the source of the fire with an investigation underway.
