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LOWELL - Seven people were killed today in a fast-moving apartment building fire here, officials said.
'This is a horrible day in the city of Lowell,'' said State Fire Marshall Stephen D. Coan.
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He said investigators have located the remains inside the building that stretch from 73 to 81 Branch Street here.
He described the fire as 'fast-moving'' and investigators believe that many of the victims were trapped inside the building.
The building did not have sprinklers, and officials said they did not believe it was required to have them. They are also investigating whether the smoke detectors, which are required, functioned properly.
Coan said the first priority will be to remove the victims, and then conduct a widespread investigation that will search for the cause of the fire, where it started and also examine whether the building was up to code.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi. Claire McNeill can be reached at claire.mcneill@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @clairemcneill.
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Entities 0 Name: LOWELL Count: 2 1 Name: Stephen D. Coan Count: 1 2 Name: Boston Count: 1 3 Name: Claire McNeill Count: 1 4 Name: Coan Count: 1 5 Name: Laura Crimaldi Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: bostonglobe Score: 26 1 Name: crimaldi Score: 20 2 Name: fast-moving Score: 20 3 Name: coan Score: 20 4 Name: mcneill Score: 17 5 Name: building Score: 16 6 Name: reading Score: 16 7 Name: lowell Score: 15 8 Name: fire Score: 14 9 Name: investigation Score: 13 Authors Media Images 0
