PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A fire on Thursday afternoon severely damaged a home at 89 Cromwell Ave. and sent its owner to the hospital.
"We got here, there was already heavy fire. The whole back of the building was involved and it was pushing out the front porch. So the whole first floor was involved," said Fire Chief Thomas Sammons. "Both stories were just blown."
The balloon-frame structure allowed the fire to get into the attic of the two-story home before firefighters could cut it off, he said, which compounded the problem.
Linda Boyd was the only one home at the time and had been able to flee the structure. There apparently was a question of some pets in the building that the chief was unable to answer. Boyd was treated on scene and transported to Berkshire Medical Center with smoke inhalation. As of Thursday night, according to Deputy Chief Daniel Garner, she had been discharged and she and her adult son are being assisted by the American Red Cross.
The single-family home dates to around 1930.
Neighbor Michael Connors said he could see flames as he turned on to Cromwell and was calling 911 when he saw the Boyd just outside of the enclosed front porch.
"I just pulled up and the place was on fire and I helped her, I got her off the step and brought her over here," Connors said. "I just jumped out of the car and went over to help her. It was so hot over there. And then another couple came up behind me ... They helped me carry her across the street."
The whole back of the house appeared to be in flames, he said, and then it was coming out through the front windows.
A section of Cromwell, a well-tended street of mostly single-family homes, was expected to be closed at the scene for another few hours as firefighters wrapped up their work.
Sammons, who had been at the scene from the start, said the initial response was three engines, a command vehicle and two ambulances from County and possibly and Action Ambulance. There was a slight delay in getting another engine because of a heart attack occurring at the same time on the other side of the city but in the end two truck companies responded.
"I don't come unless it's a double alarm. But during the day I come anyway, and there was a lot of work to do right off the bat," he said.
It was about two hours after the fire began that the scene was in "overhaul mode," the chief said. "We had to transition our attack because we couldn't get in the building. So we use ladder/pipe operations. We cut holes in the roof and then the rafters had failed because of the fire load. ...
"The ladder truck put a lot of fire out and then we started entering the building on ladders to put the fire out in the attack."
It was not clear who made the initial 911 call but Connors thought Boyd indicated that she had.
This was a very well-developed, fast-moving fire that was aided by the 'balloon-frame' construction characteristics which allowed for fire travel among void spaces in the walls, Garner wrote in his report released late Thursday. "The shortcoming of this type of construction can be it typically doesn't have the 'fire stop' protection that common wood 'platform-frame' construction affords."
The building was later deemed a near total loss with partial collapse of the roof and heavy fire damage throughout. There was no estimate on the dollar loss.
"It was a lot of work. That's what we trained for. They did a good job," Sammons said of the department. "It's just every now and then. There is a delay. Obviously there was a delay before they made the call but that happens."
Updated with new information and the name of the owner at 9:49 p.m.
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ServiceNet Warming Center Hosted 126 People This Winter
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
ServiceNet manages the warming shelter next to the church.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
It opened on Dec. 1 in the First United Methodist Church's dining area, next to ServiceNet's 40-bed shelter The Pearl. The agency has seen 126 individuals utilize the warming center and provided some case management to regulars.
While this winter was a success, they are already considering next winter.
"I've been on this committee many years now. There's probably only a few months out of the year that I don't talk about winter, so I'm always trying to plan for next winter," Erin Forbush, ServiceNet's director of shelter and housing, told the Homelessness Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
"We are in this winter and I'm already thinking what's going to happen next winter because I want to be really clear, winter shelter is never a given. We don't have this built into the state budget. It's not built into our budget, so there is always trying to figure out where we get money, and then where do we go with winter shelter."
She pointed out that warming centers are "very different" from shelters, which have a bed. The warming center is set up like a dining room, open from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., and folks are welcome to stay for breakfast.
"We are asking people to come in, get warm, be out of the elements," Forbush explained.
ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
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Multiple people driving by the structure at 206 Dalton called 911 report heavy flames coming from the front of the building, according to Deputy Fire Chief Neil Myers.
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