There is currently a fire in the Barn, which houses classes and offices. The building has been evacuated, and the fire department is on scene. There are no student, faculty, or staff injuries. More information to come via this channel. pic.twitter.com/t4nKjZkjqG

— Bennington College (@AtBennington) April 30, 2019

The building burned to the ground. 

CHESHIRE, Mass. — The fire that destroyed a local business is believed to have started in an attached garage.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Firefighters battled a difficult blaze that destroyed a Windsor Road business Thursday night.

The Fire Department received a call at 7:21 p.m. of a garage fire as a blizzard swept through the region with frigid temperatures and gusty winds. Upon arrival, the former Kubota dealership was already heavily engulfed in flames.

"Our initial responders reported heavy fire from the garage spreading to the service area. We had a full response. Our first arriving engine went off the road, into a snow bank. Our second engine, when he got here, had electrical issues and lost all electric. We couldn't even flow water," Fire Chief Thomas Francesconi said.

The structure was recently purchased by J. Richardson Contracting. Francesconi said later in the evening that the cause was not yet known but appeared to have begun in the garage area based on initial reports. 

The initial responding officer had called immediately for mutual aid from multiple towns. Adams sent an engine while the Adams Forest Wardens, Savoy and Lanesborough departments sent tankers. Dalton Fire Department also responded.

Cheshire got its engine back in service with help from the Highway Department.

"Fortunately for us, our Highway Department was right on the ball. Our engine went off the side of the road and into the snow and they pulled our engine out," Francesconi said.

The former dealership is about three miles off Route 116, and the wind fueled and blew the blaze from the garage and into the former showroom area.

"If the wind wasn't so bad, it wouldn't have taken over on us so bad," the chief said.

The wind had not only fueled the blaze, but the fire also had a head start on responders. The building is on a infrequently traveled, narrow road, and by the time the department arrived it was "50 percent" involved.

"It is not a heavily traveled road, especially during a storm. You can go 10 minutes without seeing a car so nobody would know there was even a fire," Francesconi said.

One of the town's highway crew was plowing on Wells Road when he heard the call. He immediately headed to the scene and said the walls of the building were already collapsing. 

The firefighters struggled to get enough water to contain the scene. The flames towered high into the air while five tanker trucks were shuttling water from Hoosac Valley High School -- a trip that was taking at least take 20 minutes. Tankers from the three neighboring towns and from Cheshire shuttled water to the scene until the Hoosac Valley hydrants froze over. There are no hydrants in that area of Windsor Road.

When the wind whipped up, it sent billows of smoke, snow and sparks across the snow-covered yard.

Hinsdale Fire sent its rehab bus and North Adams Ambulance provided rehab on site and firefighters were routinely checking in to be safe. It could not put up its large tent because of the wind. Adams Ambulance also responded to the scene.

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Cheshire Police arrested an Adams woman Friday night who allegedly stole four cars — including a Lexus and BMW — in one day between Adams and Lenox. 

Cheshire Police Chief Tim Garner said an officer arrested 33-year-old Chandra Bourelle late Friday night near the town line after she lost control of a car she had stolen.

But it wasn't her first alleged Grand Theft Auto of the night.

Garner said she had been caught earlier in the day stealing a motor vehicle in Adams. She made bail and was released. She then stole a car that had been left running from Racing Mart in Adams, he said.

She took off to Cranwell in Lenox, where she ditched the Adams car and stole another car, the police chief said. After that, she headed to Seven Hills Inn in Lenox, where she reportedly stole yet another car and headed back toward Adams.

"She stole another one in Adams, drove it to Lenox, stole another one, left that one, and drove basically right across the street, stole another one and left the second one," Garner said. "The second one was running at Racing Mart. How she got the Lexus from Cranwell and a BMW from Seven Hills, I don't know."

Garner said a Cheshire officer was on Reservoir Road driving toward Fred Mason Road when he saw the stolen car coming toward him.

"This was the fourth stolen car of the day for this girl, so he spins around to go after her," he said. "She takes off flying so he radios Adams because he thought she was heading that way."

He said the officer found her on East View Drive, and she pulled out onto Route 8 and gunned it north to Adams.

Garner said she lost control of her car near Duke's Sand & Gravel and almost ran into a wrecker.

A wrecker on its way back to Lenox.

"She almost hit a flatbed wrecker from Lenox that had just dropped off the first stolen car so while he was in town he took the last car she stole and brought it back to Lenox," Garner said.

Garner said Bourelle's bail was revoked when she appeared in Northern Berkshire District Court on Monday.