Boston firefighters battle massive blaze in brutal cold
Firefighters battle massive fire, brutal cold in Boston
— -- Boston firefighters braved below zero temperatures Saturday night to save 14 residents from a massive fire in their three-story home in Dorchester.
Fire officials said they received the first call of the blaze occurring on Allston Street about 10 p.m.
By then, temperatures in the region plunged to negative 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
The deep freeze brought on by the so-called "bomb cyclone" left the first responders in a "semi-icicle state," and quickly froze some ladders as well as choked crucial water pumping from hoses.
Incredibly, only one firefighter suffered minor injuries during the battle.
The extreme cold led to ice forming on some trucks.
Hours after firefighters extinguished the fire, the department's Twitter feed solemnly characterized the home and its neighbor as a "complete and total loss." It tallied the damage to approximately $1.5 million.
The department added that the victims suddenly left homeless "will stay with family and friends."
"They have lost everything," it said in tweet.
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