One person was placed under arrest after an early-morning fire in Cambridge.
Fire crews responded to the two-story apartment complex near King and Dolph streets shortly before 6 a.m. Monday.
The building was quickly evacuated, but residents say they were aware of just how close the call was.
Robert Fecteau was in bed when fire alarms started going off. He says the smoke was so thick that exiting into the hallway wasn’t an option.
“The smell, I couldn’t breathe,” he tells CTV.
“It was terrible. If I wouldn’t have woke up, we wouldn’t be here talking to you.”
Fecteau and his wife were able to escape by finding a window they could climb out of.
“On entry there was light smoke in the hallway and there was a fire involved in the one lower unit,” said Cambridge Fire platoon chief David Mawdsley.
The lower-floor unit where the fire started was empty at the time. Police located its owners later Monday morning.
The cause of the fire was not immediately available, but police quickly began investigating it as suspicious and made an arrest not long after.
“One person was arrested without incident shortly after the fire. We’re currently looking at this incident as possibly a break-and-enter combined with possible arson,” said police spokesperson Olaf Heinzel.
Damage is estimated at $200,000.
