Customers Help Rescue Two Workers From Somerville Fire

SOMERVILLE (CBS) - Two customers and a police officer rescued two people from a fire at a Somerville auto body shop Friday morning.

The owner and three workers were inside the shop on McGrath Highway when flames broke out.

Two of them managed to escape on their own, but the owner and one worker wound up trapped inside.

WBZ-TV's Karen Anderson reports

One customer helped pull the worker through a small window in the back of the shop.

Somerville officer Michael Wyatt said he happened to be driving by when the fire broke out. He and another customer rushed to help as well.

"As myself and another civilian approached the back window, we heard somebody banging on the window. He couldn't fit through the window so I took my night stick and started smashing the plate glass window," Officer Michael Wyatt explained. "(The customer) picked up a piece of metal. He started clearing the glass out and we pulled the guy from the window to get him out of the building."

All four people who had been in the building were being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Their conditions were not immediately known.

A firefighter was also treated for an injury at the scene.

According to a worker, they were pulling down the fuel tank from inside a van when it crashed to the ground. He believes the friction of it falling may have caused a spark, igniting an explosion.

No official cause has been determined.