Moderate structural damage and light personal injuries were sustained by the blaze which broke out on Banks St. Tuesday morning. – Photo by Harry Kane

By Harry Kane

A house fire in Somerville Tuesday morning displaced eight tenants, according to Deputy Chief Patrick Sullivan III. Firefighters responded to the three-alarm Porter Square fire after receiving the call at 5:05 a.m.

Preliminary reports point to the fire’s origin on the first floor of 19 Banks St. The blaze swept through the second floor, living room area and kitchen. The fire then spread to the next-door home at 17 Banks St.

– Photo by Harry Kane

All tenants made it to safety, but one Somerville resident reportedly was taken to the hospital for a slight case of smoke inhalation.

By approximately 7:35 a.m., “we pretty much had the fire under control,” Sullivan said. “They still had a lot of work to do in chasing down hotspots within the dwellings.”

The home at 19 Banks St. sustained fairly extensive damage, while the neighboring home at 17 Banks St. had only third floor and roof area damage, fire officials said.

“It is not a suspicious fire and the investigator is presently working to come up with the actual oriented cause,” Sullivan said.