Fenway fire displaces many students

When firefighters arrived at the building, known locally as Cappy’s Corner, they saw heavy fire through the roof, MacDonald said. About 75 firefighters responded.

The fire was extinguished in less than an hour, though firefighters remained on the scene throughout the morning to investigate the cause of the blaze, he said. They do not believe the fire was suspicious.

The Fire Department could not say when the residents - many of them students at nearby universities including Northeastern, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Berklee College of Music - will be able to move back in. “It all depends on the property owners, their dealings with insurance companies, the scope of the damage. It could be months,’’ MacDonald said. “It’s hard to say right now. It’s too early to tell.’’

Renata Nyul, spokeswoman for Northeastern University, said that the school will provide beds on campus for the 12 NU students left without apartments.

“We have a dozen students displaced by the fire,’’ she said. “We have beds on campus for all of them. We have been working with them individually and responding to their individual needs - first and foremost housing.’’

Yesterday, about a dozen students milled around the sidewalk outside the building, some with their belongings stuffed in garbage bags. Firefighters, they said, had allowed them back into their apartments briefly to collect personal items.

Northeastern sophomore Justin Miller, 19, a Darien, Conn., native, had just moved into the building on Saturday. Just two days later, in the middle of the night, he heard the fire alarm go off, followed by screams from his neighbors. He could smell smoke and quickly left his fifth-floor apartment.

Miller was among the students who went back in to collect his belongings, with help from his mother, Kim.

Suzi Burke, 19, had just moved into the apartment building last week. After the fire, she was able to go to her roommate’s parents, who live just outside the city.

Officials told her that she may be able to move back into her apartment in a few months. Until then, Burke must find alternative housing.

“Now we don’t have much at all,’’ she said.

Globe correspondent Alexander C. Kaufman contributed to this report. Jaime Lutz can be reached at jaime.lutz@globe.com, and Amanda Cedrone at acedrone@globe.com.