(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) A crew of firefighters gets ready to reenter the burning apartment building on Cartier Street Monday morning, as heavy smoke billows from the top floor and flames erupt in the rear. All occupants, and their various pets, were rescued.

MANCHESTER — Multiple calls came in rapidly from people reporting a large apartment building at 302 Cartier St. on fire, and responding firefighters got word that some occupants were refusing to leave because their cats were still in the building.

Firefighters arrived at about 6:30 a.m. to find heavy fire coming from the porch area of the building, which is in a thickly-settled neighborhood between Wayne and Putnam streets on Manchester’s West Side.

First-arriving crews immediately began rescue operations, evacuating residents still inside while others began evacuating two adjacent buildings that were being threatened by the heavy flames.

A second alarm was sounded, bringing additional crews and apparatus to the scene.

Blizzard-like conditions caused by falling snow, mixed precipitation and strong wind gusts challenged crews, prompting command officers to sound a third alarm.

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Slush caused by heavy snow followed by rain covers Cartier Street during Monday morning's 3-alarm fire. Crews rotated in and out of the building, and were able to evacuate all occupants and their many pets despite the challenging conditions.

Crews were advised of downed power lines in the rear of the building, some of which fell onto fire trucks.

As residents and neighbors gathered across the street, some wrapped in warming blankets supplied by emergency personnel, one person attempted to run back into the building to rescue pets still inside.

Firefighters, however, were successful in rescuing numerous pets from the blaze, and brought them, many of them in cages, to residents who had taken shelter in a nearby school, which officials opened as a warming shelter for the displaced occupants.

According to initial reports, there were no injuries to any firefighters.

Representatives of the city Fire Marshal’s office are investigating the cause and origin of the blaze.

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Heavy flames burst through an attic vent as a firefighter in a tower ladder approaches the roof during Monday morning's 3-alarm fire on Cartier Street.

–JEFFREY HASTINGS

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Heavy smoke pours from the upper stories of the Cartier Street apartment building heavily damaged in Monday morning's fire. Crews were able to rescue all the occupants and their many pets, despite the challenging conditions.