PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A city man is in critical condition after being rescued by firefighters from a burning second-floor apartment on Friday.
The victim was found suffering from severe burns in a room next to the kitchen where the fire started in Apartment 4 at 483 Peck's Road. He was taken to Berkshire Medical Center by Action Ambulance and later flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The blaze in the six-unit structure was reported at about noontime. Brown smoke was reported coming from the eaves of the building and a hose was stretched to the second floor apartment to extinguish the kitchen fire. Crews from Engines 3 and 5 entered the building and found the victim. Personnel from Engine 1 did a primary search of the structure for any other individuals and to determine the extent of the fire.
The fire damage was largely confined to single apartment but the occupant of the unit underneath on the first floor was displaced. Red Cross was contacted to assist the person. The rest of the building suffered degrees of smoke damage.
Deputy Chief Ron Clement was on-scene incident commander. The cause of the fire is not known at this time and the state fire marshal's office is assisting in the investigation.
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BRPC Submits Grants for Berkshire County
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission recently submitted grant applications on behalf of the county's municipalities.
On March 5, the BRPC agreed to submit four grants to the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Grant Program.
One was for the Clarksburg Bank Stabilization Project in partnership with the town. This will address the aggressive bank erosion where the former Briggsville Dam was removed, mitigating property loss for residents in the Carson Avenue area of Clarksburg. The area was graded and naturalized on the removal of the old dam but was scoured out by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Another is for "Ghost Dams Inventory Mapping." This will help address numerous unmapped nonjurisdictional dams throughout the county, many of which are not maintained and no longer serve a purpose. "Ghost dams" can often be an unknown safety hazard and are a barrier to fish and wildlife.
The Housatonic Road Stream Crossing Management Plans grant will help to complete a fully mapped and assessed inventory of culverts in the towns of Lee, Cheshire, Hinsdale, Dalton and possibly Lanesborough. Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Greenagers, Housatonic Valley Association and Mass Audubon will also work with the towns to identify priority culvert replacements based on culvert condition, environmental priority, and climate risk.
The Berkshire Climate Career Lab in partnership with Ethos Pathways, a climate readiness coach, to create a High School career program to prepare students interested in climate careers, explore opportunities, and build skills.
Also submitted were two applications to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's EmPower Implementation Grant Program.
A $150,000 Housing Energy Efficiency Rehabilitation grant would create a more cohesive pipeline for residents within the Community Development Block Grant housing rehabilitation program to receive funding and support through the MassSave Program, which supports energy efficiency, and Berkshire Community Action Council.
A $150,000 Air Quality Monitoring grant would fund the rest of the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality monitoring grant. It will help to ensure that the indoor and outdoor air quality sensors will provide valuable data not seen before in Berkshire County.
The BRPC board also accepted $25,000 from The Nature Conservancy, which will be used to help support culvert replacements for municipalities in the county.
The District Attorney's Office has determined that the police officer who fatally shot Biagio Kauvil during a mental health incident in January acted lawfully.
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At the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires child care center in Pittsfield, Secretary of Education Stephen Zrike heard from community-based preschool educators about workforce needs and the impact of the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative. click for more
Less than a month into spring, the town received its first dust complaint after an overnight storm on March 31 blew sand and fine dust onto Raymond Drive, sending air monitoring data off the charts.
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Dozens of people bid farewell to the Wahconah Park grandstand on Saturday with a round of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," hot dogs, and stories about the ballpark. click for more