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Crews fight smokey Beacon Hill fire

The scene on Charles Street Thursday (WBZ-AM)

A smokey fire on Beacon Hill at a popular market.

It started around 10:30 Thursday morning at Deluca's Market on Charles Street and quickly went to five alarms.

A worker tells WBZ they smelled smoke inside the store and when they went down to the basement the discovered smoke and heard electricity arcing.

A nearby off-duty firefighter told everyone to evacuate the building and moments later the store was filled with smoke.

A Boston fire official says having the fire in the basement makes it tough to put out.

"It's just tough to get at when spraying water from the outside until eventually firefighters can go into the building down narrow stairs and pull apart all those boxes... it's going to be tough to put out," said department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

About 75 firefighters responded to the scene so that crews could be rotated due to the hot weather conditions.

Smoke did spread to adjoining buildings but the fire was contained to the store's basement. No one was injured.

Boylston Street was closed at the corner of Charles as well as at Tremont Street.

Deluca's has been operating at the same location for more than a century.

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