Pearl Street Fire Sends Resident to Hospital, Seven Displaced, Plus Cat

Update, 12:10 p.m.: This article has been uptaded to reflect the number of people displaced. Firefighters now believe seven people were displaced, not six.

A resident was sent to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation after a fire gutted the first floor of a Pearl Street home Tuesday morning.

At least seven people, plus a cat, were displaced by the fire, according to Somerville Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher.

The fire started shortly before 10 a.m. at a three-story home at 167 Pearl Street in East Somerville, near the intersection of McGrath Highway.

It started in the first floor at the back of the home, Kelleher said, and the first-floor resident who was at home tried to put it out.

Firefighters knocked the fire down by about 10 a.m., but the building suffered smoke and water damage and is no longer habitable, Kelleher said.

Firefighters believed that on the first floor two residents have been displaced, and on the third floor a family of five was displaced, according to the fire chief. The second floor was not occupied.

In addition, firefighters rescued a cat from the home. They treated the animal for smoke inhalation using a special oxygen mask designed for pets, according to Deputy Chief Patrick Sullivan, and the cat was placed in a crate for its safety.

Firefighters, still securing the property Tuesday morning, did not yet know the cause of the fire, Kelleher said.