BOSTON -- Six firefighters were injured when a wall collapsed while they battled a smoky three-alarm blaze in Brookline on Wednesday.

Firefighters Injured In Fire

The firefighters were briefly trapped after the second-floor collapse and suffered minor injuries, including burns and smoke inhalation. They were taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Mark Bates was working across the street at about 2:30 p.m. when he spotted smoke coming from the Harrison Street home. He jumped over a fence and ran inside to warn the residents.

"There was a woman at the front door saying that she believed that there was a man in there. So I ran in and when I got in there, the astonishing thing was that they had no idea that their house was on fire," Bates said.

"Some guy says, 'Your house is on fire!' And just started screaming to get out of there. We started running. I had no idea the house was on fire. We just ran outside. Black smoke was everywhere," Tristen Conover said.

Bates helped Conover get his father, Harry, out safely.

"He was a little bit disabled, so he had to find his cane and it took us a little while. It started to get pretty hot in there, and you could tell it was going to go up soon. A minute and a half after we got outside, it was totally on fire," Bates said.

A cat was also rescued from the fire.

"Everything I worked for, everything I own is gone now," Tristen Conover said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.