LEWISTON – Roughly a half-dozen people were loaded into police cars and ambulances late Monday night after a fire forced the evacuation of a building at 65 Howe St.

Police evacuated the building’s residents, many of them elderly, after officers were unable to snuff out the blaze in a second-floor rear apartment.

One sick, elderly woman was carried outside by police Officer Hart Daley, who loaded her into a police cruiser to keep her from the near zero-degree temperatures outside.

Residents wearing night clothes huddled in the back of an ambulance while firefighters worked to extinguish the small fire. A few of the residents were taken to hospitals as a precaution, according to police Sgt. David Chick.

The fire was first reported about 11:45 p.m., police said. Officers Patrick Griffin and Corey Jacques were the first on the scene, and they at first used fire extinguishers to attack the flames.

As fire crews responded, the officers decided keeping the elderly tenants inside was too risky as the flames continued to spread.

“They had no choice but to evacuate at that point,” Chick said.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire but remained at the scene roughly an hour after the blaze was reported.

Police blocked off several nearby intersections as fire and rescue crews went to and from the scene. The building where the fire started is near the corner of Howe and Pine streets.

Damage from the blaze was considered minor. The cause remained unknown early Tuesday morning. The temperature late Monday night was about 10 degrees.