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Residents Need Ladders To Escape Fire

Cause Of Fire Under Investigation

POSTED: 10:27 am EDT September 18, 2009
UPDATED: 12:21 pm EDT September 18, 2009

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At least 12 people were rescued by firefighters early Friday after a fire broke out in an apartment building in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood.

Residents Need Ladders To Escape Fire The fire broke out in the six-story Beach Street building at about 3 a.m. Friday.

"He tried to get out, but he can't. So he made me ask somebody 'help!'" rescued resident Dan Dan Want said.

It's a long way down to the street from Want's fifth floor Chinatown apartment. But when smoke from a basement fire filled the stairwells of the building at the corner of Tyler and Beach Streets just after 2:30 a.m. Friday, Want, her husband and two young children had no choice but to exit with the help of firefighters via one of two tower ladders dispatched to the scene.

Want was one of approximately a dozen people who were forced to crawl out their window and carefully descend several stories on a ladder.

"I just wanted to get out," Want said.

All of the approximately 150 people who live in the building's 40 apartments got out safely.

On Friday morning, the building inspector and insurance adjustor were on site while water was pumped out of the basement.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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