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Firefighters pull back from the blaze on Friday evening; they will resume on Saturday morning.
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A forest fire on East Mountain in Williamstown as seen from Henderson Road late Friday evening.

Three Dozen Firefighters Take on Williamstown Forest Fire

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Williamstown Fire Chief Craig Pedercini, left, talks strategy with North Adams Fire Chief Brent Lefebvre and Lanesborough Fire Chief Charlie Durfee, right.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Fire personnel from seven towns plus North Adams battled a forest fire Friday on East Mountain.
 
About three dozen personnel from the fire departments of Williamstown, Clarksburg, Hancock, Lanesborough, New Ashford, North Adams and Pownal, Vt., plus the Adams Forest Wardens responded to the blaze that first was reported at 5:44 p.m.
 
The fire was located more than a mile from the nearest paved road, forcing firefighters to take to four-wheelers to get to the site. Initial reports indicated the fire was at least partially on property owned by the East Mountain Sportsman's Club.
 
By 8:25, as darkness enveloped the mountainside, the first responders were making their way down the mountain to one of two command centers that were set up to coordinate the operation.
 
"I don't want to get anybody hurt," Williamstown Fire Chief Craig Pedercini said, explaining the order to withdraw from the woods.
 
"Working in the woods at night with fires, that alone is dangerous. You can trip, you can fall, a tree can fall on you. There are so many different things that can happen up there, and you're not going to be able to see well enough to coordinate what you want to do.
 
"We get to a certain point at night, and we pull out. Depending on the weather, it could slow down on us a little at night, and then in the morning, it will pick up when it starts getting warmer."
 
Pedercini was coordinating operations from the main command center with North Adams Fire Chief Brent Lefebvre and Lanesborough Fire Chief Charlie Durfee. Williamstown Forest Warden Rick Daniels was in the woods with the crews fighting the blaze.
 
The effort was aided by images from drone flights provided by the Williamstown Police Department and North Adams Fire Department photographer Nick Mantello.
 
When the firefighters returned to base camp after dark, they were greeted by pizzas donated by The Log by Ramunto's in Williamstown.
 
Pedercini said firefighters will return to the woods on Saturday, likely with help from other area departments.
 
In 2015, it took firefighters from numerous departments three days to bring a brush fire in Clarksburg State Forest under control. That blaze burned 300 acres.

Tags: forest fire,   

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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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