NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A two-alarm blaze gutted a two-story State Road home on Monday afternoon leaving four people homeless.

A Facebook page has been set up to coordinate help and raise funds for the two couples, who lost everything in the blaze.

According to Fire Director Steve Meranti, firefighters were called to the apartment building at the corner of Protection Avenue and State Street around noon after an off-duty police officer reported heavy smoke and shooting flames.

All off-duty firefighters were called to the scene, where heavy winds spread the fire throughout nooks and crannies on the topmost floors, he said. The fire built up in the ceiling and firefighters needed to call for backup.

"The wind contributed considerably," Meranti said. "It was a tough one. The guys took a wicked beating."

Additional difficulty came because the department was restricted by power lines on Protection Avenue and National Grid had to disconnect power.

Firefighters removed the building's roof to get at the blaze in the attic. The home was vacant when the fire was reported and no one was injured.

"It's a total loss on the second and third [attic] floors," Meranti said. "Everybody has been accounted for."

There are two apartments housing two people in each, according to Meranti. The fire appeared to have begun in a second-floor bedroom, he said.

"I don't remember being at a fire that big since I was a kid," Mayor Richard Alcombright said, who was at the scene.

The fire closed traffic on Route 2 between Protection Avenue and Roberts Drive for more than two hours. Motorists were detoured over Massachusetts Avenue.

Adams Fire Department also assisted on the scene and Clarksburg Fire Department was on standby in the city's station. The cause of the fire is not yet known and investigation will continue on Tuesday when the fire marshall arrives to the scene.

"It does not appear to be suspicious but we haven't ruled anything out yet," Meranti said.

Firefighters remained on the scene Monday night to watch for hotspots.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A bag full of dirty clothes shut down one of the city's main arteries for more than two hours on Wednesday night.

The suspicious bag was reported abandoned under the Veterans Memorial Bridge just after 6 p.m.

An initial investigation led police to believe the bag could contain a bomb or explosives and they closed the roads around 7 p.m. The bomb squad was called about less than a half hour later.

"We had a suspicious package under the artery," said Public Safety Commissioner E. John Morocco, who described it as "an old dufflebag."  "We originally checked it with a thermal scanner and we found a hot spot."

That was enough to call in the state police bomb squad, he said. Two squad members arrived around 9 p.m.

Access to Marshall Street between Main and River streets and Veterans Memorial Bridge, carrying Route 2, was blocked and diverted over Main Street and River Street.

Shortly before 10 p.m. state police finished the investigation and found the bag was not harmful. They took X-rays using a portable machine to determine there were no explosives. Once that was completed, a trooper wearing a safety vest opened the bag and looked inside to confirm.

The team brought along the remote-control robot but did not deploy it.

What appeared to be a large, dark bag of some sort could be seen about midway between the concrete pillars supporting the deck on the edge of the east side of the parking lot near the sidewalk at about 9 p.m. The nearby Mohawk Tavern was dark and reportedly evacuated.

North Adams Police were being aided by a state police cruiser and Clarksburg police to prevent motorists from driving under or over the bridge.

Officer Jason Wood said the bag was "full of dirty clothes." An officer is still investigating but Wood wasn't sure it if there was anything in the bag to identify the owner. "It was in an odd spot," he said, adding the bag is now "lost property."

The last time a suspicious package raised this level of caution was more than two years during a failed bank robbery attempt by Robert A. Bywaters. Bywaters claimed to have a bomb in a bag he left on the sidewalk in front of Hoosac Bank on Main Street.

The main drag was shut down for nearly 12 hours before the state police bomb squad removed the bag and disposed of the contents.

Updated and rewritten throughout to add and correct details; Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, 10:58 p.m.

Update on Saturday, Dec.18: The bag turns out to have been stolen from a woman at the Thrifty Bundle laundromat on State Road. According to a report in the North Adams Transcript, someone grabbed her purse and, when she gave chase, someone else stole her bag.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — An armed robbery at one of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Townhouse dormitories on Tuesday is under investigation.

The district attorney's office released a brief statement late Wednesday saying no one was hurt during the 6:30 p.m. robbery the day before. MCLA campus police and state police detectives assigned to the district attorney's office are requesting that anyone who was in the area at the time or who may have information about the incident contact the college's office of public safety at 413-662-5284.

Fred Lantz, spokesman for the district attorney's office, and Bernadette Lupo, MCLA's spokeswoman, both said they could not provide any additional information because the investigation was ongoing.

Updated 9:08 a.m. A Lifeflight helicopter turned back after hitting poor conditions over the mountains. The patient was taken to North Adams Regional Hospital and a few hours later taken to  Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center by ambulance.

The crash reportedly occurred when the vehicle went over an embankment at the dead end of Highland Avenue. That information has not been confirmed by police.

ADAMS, Mass. — A single-vehicle accident early Saturday morning left two young people seriously injured, according to scanner reports.

A Lifeflight helicopter that was to land in the Adams Internists parking lot turned back after hitting poor conditions over the mountains. It was supposed to take one of the vehicle's occupants to Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center, reportedly with a head injury. A second individual was taken by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center.

The crash occurred around 1 a.m. on Glendale Drive, a dense residential area off West Road. Police were looking for a third occupant who was believed to have left the scene.

Adams and North Adams ambulance services responded to the scene along with police and firefighters.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — A man was killed Wednesday afternoon while trying to move a bull into a pen at a Daniels Road dairy farm and another seriously injured.

Paul F. Marshall, 78, was leading the bull across a field when it attacked Marshall and Everett Sherman, a neighbor trying to help, said police. Marshall was pronounced dead at the scene. Sherman was reportedly gored on his side by the bull and taken to North Adams Regional Hospital and later transported to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

The bull, described as black with a white mark, was to be put down last Thursday. It was one of a number of Holsteins kept at the farm.

The bull was in a back garden area with eight cows, said Police Chief Michael Williams on Monday. It wasn't clear if the cattle were loose and Marshall was trying to pen them up or if he was just moving them.

Marshall's wife, Carolyn, saw much of what happened and at 1:22 p.m. called the dispatcher in North Adams saying her husband was being attacked by a bull.

Firefighters were first on the scene, followed by police and two North Adams Ambulance Service vehicles. Williams said state police detectives attached to the district attorney's office also responded, as did Medical Examiner Dr. Benjamin Glick. The DA's office did not have any further information.

Emergency responders remained on the scene for several hours.

The Marshalls purchased the farm, which runs along the south side of Daniels Road between East Road and Walker Street, in 1983 from the Massachusetts State College Builiding Authority.

The land had been used by what was then North Adams State College for a sustainable agricultural program. More recently, it became the home of Square Roots Farm, which is leasing land to grow produce and some livestock.

Original post Saturday, Nov. 25, 2010. Updated Nov. 29, 2010 with more information.