Fire scene: Charred triple decker.

A fast-moving New Year's Eve blaze tore through a Sydney Street three-decker last week, displacing ten residents, including a couple who were forced to descend a ladder from their third-story porch in the middle of a driving snowstorm. Quick-thinking neighbors rushed the ladder to their rescue before firefighters arrived.

"It was great for that community that they sprang to action and literally saved the lives of the neighbors," said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

The Boston Globe identified the primary rescuers as John Beleheen and William Vallaincourt.

The three-alarm fire - which investigators determined was caused by an electrical short in a first-floor bedroom - caused more than $500,000 in damage to 56 Tuttle Street. The house was the scene of murder of Daniel Yakovleff, who was found stabbed to death in a third-floor apartment in January 2008.