Eagle Street Blaze Destroys Pet Shop
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| Animal Control Officer Melissa Wilkinson rescues a gecko.View Slide Show |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Dozens of birds and small animals perished in a morning fire at Tropical Gardens Pet Center on Eagle Street.
A small leopard gecko was rescued by Animal Control Officer Melissa Wilkinson; quite a few fish survived the fire but their long-term prognosis was unknown.
Firefighters battled the smoky blaze in frigid temperatures as the thermometer hovered below 20 degrees. Heavy smoke could be seen rising from the back of the building from the Center Street parking lot.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known Monday.
The fire started in the back of the building on the first floor, according to Fire Director Stephen Meranti, then worked its way up through the back stairs to the second floor and into the roof.
No one was in the building at the time of the fire, which was called in shortly before 9 a.m. by an employee of Moulton's Spectacle Shoppe. The back of the Main Street shop looks out on an alleyway that runs behind the pet shop. The employee said she could smell the smoke before she saw it.
The pet shop didn't open until 10 a.m. and many of the offices in the neighborhood, including the Adams Cooperative Bank down the street, were closed because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Moulton's worker speculated that the fire had been burning for some time and might have been noticed sooner if it hadn't been a holiday.
There were initial concerns that someone was in an apartment above the shop, but building co-owner Peter May said no one lived in the building. An electronics shop operated on the second floor, he said.
He said the pet shop is owned by Terry Blair.
"There's nothing I can do. Nobody got hurt. Nobody lives here. It didn't damage anybody else's property," said May. "But this was [Blair's] livelihood. She must be freaking out."
Blair had arrived at the scene early but did not stay; she could not be reached for comment.
The concrete-block building is separated from the Persnickety toy store on its right by an alleyway and attached to the brick building at 19 Eagle St. to its left. That building was not damaged but firefighters opened the windows on the top floor to ventilate it because of the smoke.
It took about two hours to bring the fire under control; firefighters had to chop holes in the roof to reach some of the hot spots.
Meranti said there were still some hot areas and that the building would be on a 24-hour watch.
"There are a lot of birds, maybe 20 small animals and a lot of fish," said Wilkinson after inspecting the smoke-darkened premises. While many of the fish survived, "it got so hot in there I don't know if they can survive the temperature changes."
A blue tarp covered several cages with dead birds that had been taken from the building early on. The gecko and his aquarium were stowed in Wilkinson's vehicle.
Eagle Street was closed until around noon; the Center Street parking lot also was closed off because hose had to be run across it from a hydrant near Holden Street.
Williamstown Fire Department sent two vehicles, including a ladder truck, and firefighters; Adams firefighters were also on the scene. Clarksburg firefighters covered the North Adams station. North Adams Ambulance Service also assisted.<R5>
Tropical Gardens has been in the city for about 30 years, first operating on Marshall Street. May and Eric Rudd purchased the Eagle Street building in 1996 for $75,000 from the Lampron family, according to the Registry of Deeds. May said the building is insured.
Editor's note, Jan. 23: The fire was reportedly sparked by a faulty coffeepot cord.
Tags: structure fire,
