4-Alarm Fire Guts Brookline Apartment Building

Brookline fire officials are investigating the cause of a four-alarm fire that appears to have gutted all four floors at 1471 Beacon St. Monday.

The blaze spread quickly and sent at least one person to the hospital.

Brookline Fire Chief Paul Ford said that cold weather made fighting the fire difficult.

"Whenever we have conditions like this, ice is a challenge. Cold, hypothermia on the men," Ford said. "Just freezing conditions make it very difficult and dangerous."

Building resident Isabel Navarro said this isn't the first time the fire department has been called to this address.

"We've had fires in our building before and it was always someone smoking or something," Navarro said. "This time it was something really bad."

Neighboring buildings were evacuated as firefighters worked to get the fire under control.

Erin Lamb, a student at New England School of Law, lives nearby and had to evacuate.

"My unit doesn't look like it has any damage yet, but everything I have and all my schoolbooks are in there and my computer," Lamb said. "It's just a lot, it's stressful right now."

Residents were not being allowed back into the building, which appears uninhabitable.