PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Firefighters rescued an individual from the basement of a burning Hubbard Avenue home shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
The individual, described as the daughter, was taken to Berkshire Medical Center and airlifted to Massachusetts General in Boston with life-threatening injuries. Her current status is not known.
A firefighter was also taken to BMC with lacerations to the knee incurred during the basement search. He was treated, receiving eight stitches, and released.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
According to the report by Deputy Chief Neil Myers, B Company responded to a double alarm structure fire at 25 Hubbard Ave. at approximately 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. Arriving companies confirmed a working fire in the basement.
Three family members escaped but reported that their daughter was still inside and trapped in the basement. Firefighters conducted an aggressive interior search for her. Myers said a search was done of the first and second floors but the Engine 2 crew, "after an aggressive search under extreme conditions, found the seat of the fire and began extinguishment, but couldn't locate the victim."
The E3 and E5 crews at the top of the basement stairs "located the victim in an adjacent first-floor bathroom." She was still breathing and taken outside where County Ambulance emergency medical technicians were standing by.
Damage to the house is estimated at $50,000, mostly from major heat, smoke and fire in the basement. The Red Cross was assisting the family in finding shelter.
Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Dalton, and Lenox Fire Departments provided mutual aid.
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Big Votes Await Pittsfield City Council
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tuesday is a big day for Pittsfield, as the City Council will take a final vote on the fiscal 2025 budget, a five-year trash contract, and water and sewer rates.
These will be taken in council chambers at the meeting beginning at 6 p.m.
The proposed $215,955,210 spending plan is a 5 percent increase from the previous year and includes a $200,000 cut to the schools. Councilors preliminarily OKed the number a couple of weeks ago with a last-minute cut to the district's budget after "unprofessional" comments from School Committee members.
This drops the school budget to $82.6 million.
All other city departments were preliminarily approved without adjustments over four hearings.
The Pittsfield Police Department budget is proposed to rise 4 percent from $14,364,673 in FY24 to $14,998,410, an increase of about $614,000. A 2.5 percent increase is proposed for the Department of Public Services, rising about $287,000 from $11,095,563 in FY24 to $11,382,122.
Mayor Peter Marchetti has also submitted orders to appropriate $2.5 million from certified free cash to reduce the FY25 tax rate, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $10,192,500 for general fund capital expenditures, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $7,700,000 for enterprise fund capital expenditures, and transfer and appropriate $234,000 from the public works stabilization fund to the Department of Public Services.
Councilors will also be tasked with the city's trash collection for the next five years, with contracts on the table between the City of Pittsfield and Casella Waste Management, Inc. for solid waste and recyclables collection and for the operation of the Casella-owned transfer station at 500 Hubbard Avenue.
Following three community meetings to engage residents, the council preliminarily approved the five-year contracts with Casella last week. This agreement uses automated collection instead of unlimited trash pickup VIA 48-gallon trash and recycling toters provided at no cost.
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