A night out celebrating Halloween turned into an actual fright for some students who lived in buildings damaged by a fast-moving Mission Hill blaze yesterday.
Cassandra Conte stayed at a friend’s place Saturday night after attending a school Halloween dance and party.
It wasn’t until she walked back to her apartment yesterday morning that she learned a fire ripped through a neighbor’s building and also damaged hers.
“It’s just so unexpected,” said the visibly upset Massachusetts College of Pharmacy student. She lived in a basement apartment with her roommate who was also not home at the time. “I just hope all of my stuff is OK.”
About 10 apartments from three buildings suffered damage from the five-alarm blaze that broke out just before 1 a.m.
The apartments at 37-39 Calumet St. appeared to be the most heavily damaged and the roof on that building was partially collapsed.
An exact cause of the fire was not yet clear yesterday.
More than 130 firefighters worked hours to put it out. A woman was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation, but she was expected to be OK.
Firefighters were told a person was trapped on the second floor of one of the buildings. They went to search, kicked in a door and found a woman, fire officials said.
Lisa Daughtry said her family owned two of the damaged buildings, which were occupied mostly by students.
Firefighters removed what appeared to be dozens of cats from one of the buildings. It was not immediately clear who they belonged to.
A spokeswoman for the Inspectional Services Department said inspectors were investigating the buildings as well as possibly illegal basement apartments.
