SOMERVILLE — A seven-alarm fire heavily damaged a cluster of residential buildings on Calvin Street this morning, but authorities said they believe all the residents managed to escape the buildings.
The fire was discovered in four buildings on Calvin Street, close to the Cambridge line outside Inman Square, around 6 a.m. today, prompting the Somerville Fire Department to strike seven alarms and call in mutual aid from neighboring departments including Boston, Chelsea, Brookline, Medford, and Belmont.
“It involved all four buildings before we even got off the truck,’’ Somerville Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher said at the scene. “The biggest challenge [was] life safety, making sure everybody is accounted for.’’
Anna Jobe, who lives at 19 Calvin St., said she was awakened by the sound of smoke alarms.
“We just woke up to alarms and it seemed like the back porch was on fire on the second and third floor,’’ said the 27-year-old Jobe. “It went up really quickly. It was ridiculous how fast it went up and how quickly it spread.â€
Jobe said she is not sure how much of her possessions survived the flames, the water, and the smoke.
“I think we will probably have stuff left, I just think it will be super damaged,’’ she said.
But then she paused and became overwhelmed by the stress of her morning.
“I can’t even think right now,’’ she said.
Neighbor Bobby Herrera said the sirens of arriving fire trucks did not prompt him to get out of bed, but when he heard loud knocking, he became concerned.
“I was asleep and I heard a bunch of sirens, but I stayed asleep,’’ said Herrera, a graduate student at Harvard University. “But then I heard knocking and a lot of commotion so I figured something was wrong.’’
He added, “I looked outside my window at those two buildings — and they were blazing with fire.’’
The massive response by the firefighters left area streets — including Calvin, Caldwell and a main city street, Washington — choked with fire engines, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles along with a long ribbons of firehouses that crisscrossed the streets.
Kelleher said there had been other fires in the neighborhood recently, but he said the cause of this morning’s fire remains under investigation.
Aram Boghosian can be reached at aramphoto@gmail.com. Eric Moskowitz can be reached at emoskowitz@globe.com. John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
