Lint buildup blamed for five-alarm fire that displaced dozens on Mission Hill

The Boston Fire Department reports a lint buildup in a second-floor dryer ignited on Calumet Street early this morning, starting a conflagration that left 94 people on two streets homeless and that did more than $1 million in damage.

The cause of the 5 alarm fire at 37-39 Calumet St. was a clothes dryer on the 2nd floor of #37. Specifically, a build-up of lint.

The department reports 34 people were displaced by the fire itself, while another 60 people living down the hill on Wait Street had to find new places to stay because of water used to fight the fire, which spread across four townhomes.

Some 12 people living at 41 Calumet should be able to return home fairly soon, once the power is turned back on, as will most of the Wait Street residents, the department says. The rest of the Calumet residents, however, have been burned out, while 12 residents of basement apartments on Wait will also have to find other places to stay. The Mass. College of Pharmacy opened its doors as an emergency shelter.