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North Adams Fire Leaves Families HomelessStaff reports
iBerkshires
05:28PM / Monday, November 03, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Michael Reyes was ready to slip a DVD in and watch his new flat-panel television Monday afternoon when he heard a "popcorn" sound coming from his kitchen.
He walked in to see flames.
"I heard something pop," said Reyes, still shaking from the experience as he stood at the corner of Secor Avenue and watched firefighters working to save his building. "It came right in through the window."
What caused the fire is unknown at this time, but it destroyed the apartment's back porch, worked its way into the roof and damaged the exterior of the building.
It also forced Reyes, who was alone at the time, Cala Pautsch and their 7-month-old son Jeremiah out of the home they'd moved into just this Saturday.
About five other people were also forced to leave the three-apartment building owned by Gordon Leete.
Fire Director Stephen Meranti said the blaze was reported as a structure fire at 3:42 p.m. and all off-duty firefighters were called in.
"It started at the back of 3 Secor and extended into the attic and the porch roof," said Meranti. The fire was quickly contained but it took awhile to ensure it hadn't spread into the walls or ceilings.
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Photos by Tammy Daniels
.jpg) North Adams firefighters look for hot spots on the porch roof at 3 Secor Ave. At right, the gutted porch. |
The white apartment house sits directly behind a State Street residence on the narrow, steep lane that is Secor Avenue. Meranti said a nearby building was evacuated.
The fire gutted the open porch and heavily damaged its roof, which was "spongy" enough that firefighters tore it off. Meranti said the building was condemned for the moment because there was hole in the roof leaving it open to the elements. The utilities also were being turned off.
Fire Department Chaplain David Anderson was making arrangements for some of the families with Red Cross. A relative said Pautsch and Reyes did not have rental insurance.
Northbound traffic was routed onto Christopher Columbus Drive, through Western Gateway Heritage State Park and over the Hadley Overpass until Curran Highway could be shut down. The road was blocked for more than an hour.
Passers-by said the smoke could be seen billowing over the city; smoke still steamed from the eaves a half hour later.
A visiting relative of Pautsch's said he was coming back from Cumberland Farms on Ashland Street when he could see smoke and flames — and Reyes on the corner yelling that his house was on fire.
They ran back up the street and into the apartment to save the "most important thing," the flat-panel TV.
Pautsch arrived to find everyone on the sidewalk. "We have a baby," she said. "What are we going to do?" |
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary. Comments are closed for this article. If you would like to contribute information on this article, e-mail us at info@iBerkshires.com |
| The TV is the most important thing???????? Sorry about your apartment, but that TV is the least of your worries. YOU HAVE A BABY..... Much more important than any flat panel TV. WOW!!!!! | | from: Shocked | on: 11-03-2008 12:00AM
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Let's see now- a 7 months old baby or a flat screen TV---doesn't sound like much of a choice to me-- I wonder who they will be voting for on Tuesday---if they're even registered
Editor: The baby was NOT in the apartment at the time of the fire. | | from: Da Doc | on: 11-03-2008 12:00AM
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| Did the apartment have a proper fire escape or any kind of sprinkler system? What about smoke alarms? I heard there were people upstairs that had a difficult time leaving the building/ | | from: Canaras | on: 11-04-2008 12:00AM
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| How much is renters insurance? | | from: lparasim | on: 11-04-2008 12:00AM
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| I will pray that the people that did live there find a new home to live in. People can say what they want but the baby was not there at the time of the fire and if that was the only thing that he had time to get the so be it. i would have gotten things for my baby but that is just me, maybe the liven room was the only room they could get at at that time. | | from: adams | on: 11-04-2008 12:00AM
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| da doc, you're so right! new flat screen tv, dish service, no job, public assistance at every turn. but don't fret, tomorrow chairman obama and his party will rein supreme for the next four years which means, you guessed it, more entitlements, a big fat tax credit even if they pay little or nothing to the public charge. redistribution of wealth! take from my pocket to give to schmucks like this. ain't this country great? we are so f@#$%&! | | from: oh my | on: 11-04-2008 12:00AM
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| I hope Gordon Lee had insurance. I couldn't find anything under his name at masslandrecords.com. He must have purchased the building before 1985. | | from: lparasim | on: 11-04-2008 12:00AM
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to oh my:
You mean reign. Not rein.
So why don't you rein in your racism a little? | | from: spellchecker | on: 11-05-2008 12:00AM
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spellchecker,
where is the racism in oh my's comment? | | from: huh | on: 11-05-2008 12:00AM
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| Renters Insurance costs me $8 a month for $20,000 coverage on my belongings, $4000 coverage for alternate accomodations, and $100,000 death...this is through Liberty Mutual... | | from: Not Fooling Me | on: 11-08-2008 12:00AM
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I don't think that anyone has the right to judge what families do or do not value in terms of their belongings. Remember that the baby was NOT in the house at the time of the fire and I'm sure that if it was, there would have been no question as to what was more important.
I think we are forgetting the point here: A young family with a newborn is out of a house, clothing, and everything that they held important to them, with today's economy- I'm sure little funds to replace it all. | | from: | on: 11-09-2008 12:00AM
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