VIDEO: Firefighters battled a large blaze in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood that left 12 adults and nine children unable to return home Tuesday afternoon.
The fire was reported shortly before 1 p.m. in a home on Cushing Avenue. Flames burst through the roof of the building.
"Seeing their faces and trying to figure out what's going to come next. Starting over is not easy," said Geisa Silva, whose mother lives in the building. "It's sad to see everything destroyed. A lot of memories." Heavy smoke made the fire difficult for crews to extinguish.
"There were difficult conditions to get in the building," said Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Burke. "There were holes in the floor, so we couldn't keep them in that long — once the thing got going, we had to pull the firefighters out, so the fire was fought from the outside."