NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A structure fire in the middle of the night Saturday forced at least three families from their homes on River Street. 

 

The blaze was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m. at 313 River St., the back apartment of a multi-unit building at River and Loftus Street. 

 

"Crews made a pretty good, swift attack, knocked it down right away. Obviously, it had a little bit of a jump on us," said Fire Chief Brent Lefebvre. "Some windows were popped up and doors were open when we got here, so that just kind of feeds the fire a little bit."

 

The fire is believed to have started in the living room on the first floor of the two-story back unit. The area around the living room window is blackened, and melted vinyl siding showed the path of the fire up the side of the building into the upper apartment and into the attic. 

 

"Fortunately, most of the fire was confined to the first floor. Had a little bit of extension to the second floor, and in the attic," the chief said. "We're investigating right now trying to figure out what exactly caused the fire."

 

A hole had to chopped into the attic roof and firefighters could be seen moving around looking for any embers.  

 

A group of friends had been enjoying the unusually warm night around a firepit in the yard in between the several apartment buildings when the blaze broke out.