Providence firefighters comfort a woman who said she “lost everything” after she discovered that yesterday afternoon’s fire destroyed her upper-floor apartment at a multifamily house at 29 Blaine St. in the city’s North End.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — Twenty tenants were dispossessed and six firefighters and tenants were injured yesterday afternoon when an apparent electrical fire severely damaged the top floor of a multifamily house at 29 Blaine St. in the North End.

Fire Department officials said the fire, which remains under investigation, probably started in an electrical fixture in a top-floor apartment that was occupied by Rhonda Bleecher and her young daughter Ashley.

William Drainville, 29, and his girlfriend, Crystal Smith, 30, were in Smith’s three-room apartment — the second third-floor unit — when they realized something was amiss.

“We were sitting in the bedroom and all of a sudden there were noises. We heard, I guess, the people next door saying that there was a fire,” Drainville said, as he stood on the opposite side of the street from the building. He looked outside and saw one of the tenants sitting on the fire escape, apparently stunned and not moving.

“We were sitting there, watching TV. … Now we’re sitting out here with no place to go. Homeless,” he lamented.

Flames were bursting from the Bleecher apartment when firefighters rolled onto the scene shortly after 1 p.m. on an unseasonably hot day. Visibility was poor when firefighters reached the third floor, and the heat from the fire was extreme because there was no loft for the heat to seep into, said Battalion Chief Peter Celani.

Firefighter Paul O’Rorke of Engine 12, one of four firefighters who was injured, collapsed from heat exhaustion while he was on the third floor. His comrades helped him out of the building, and he was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was treated.

Three others were injured inside the house, too: Firefighter Greg DiComitis of Engine 7, who incurred a neck injury; Capt. Michael Javery of Engine 2, who suffered a back problem; and Firefighter Arthur Silva of Engine 2, who also had heat exhaustion. They were taken to Rhode Island Hospital or Miriam Hospital for treatment.

“The guys did a tremendous job,” declared Assistant Fire Chief Michael J. Dillon. “It was a hell of a fire. They took a wicked beating.”

Seven rescue trucks were deployed, including one from North Providence and one from Pawtucket. Two unidentified tenants were affected by smoke inhalation or the heat and were taken to the hospital, according to Celani.

The firefighters were dispatched at 1:08 p.m. and had the blaze under control 25 minutes later.

“Once they got water, they knocked the thing right down,” Celani said.

There was heavy fire damage to the Bleecher apartment and moderate to slight smoke and water damage to the rest of the wood-frame structure, he said.

“In another day or two it will be fit for occupancy,” Celani said of the building, meaning the units not touched by the flames. He had National Grid cut off electricity to the building as a precaution.

Building owner William Cheves, laboratory manager at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Davis Park, said the property is assessed by the city for nearly $400,000. He said that he has insurance, but he was not sure how much.

The 17 adults and 3 children who lived there are eligible for assistance by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Red Cross. Arthur Shlevin, field supervisor for emergency services, was at the scene handing out debit cards that eligible tenants may use to buy two nights’ lodging, six meals and replacement clothing. Each individual is allotted the same amount, so a three-member family, for example, would get the same sum for each member.

He offered the people his personal follow-up help and referred them to the relatively new statewide social-services hot line, 211. The 211 program pulls together disparate agencies so that a person in distress can be assisted in a comprehensive manner.

Once the fire was out, fire officials and Cheves allowed tenants to return to their apartments to retrieve as many of their personal belongings as they could carry. Deputy Assistant Fire Chief Thomas N. Warren draped his fire coat over one young woman’s shoulders to protect her from dripping water and debris and accompanied her inside so that she could bring out a baby carriage for another woman’s infant.

amilkovi@projo.com