Several Fire Companies Battling Structure Fire in Adams
ADAMS, Mass. — Several fire companies are battling a fully involved structure fire in the town of Adams.
The call was reported shortly after 4:30 p.m. for 14 Hastings Ave., a single-family, two-story home located near Renfrew Field. Cheshire and North Adams fire departments were responding for mutual aid; Savoy Fire Department was called in to cover the fire station.
At least one person was in the house at the time. Dispatch called for emergency medical technicians to assist an individual who was now outside the house but suffering from smoke inhalation.
Police Chief K. Scott Kelley, who as at the scene, said the lone occupant at the time was able to get out of the building. She was taken by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.
Flames could be seen pouring out of the both first and second story of the structure and black smoke was spilling from the roof. The home has a large yard is not close to any other structures.
Electrical power and gas was cut to the entire block.
Police Officer Joshua Baker was the first on the scene and made sure all the occupants were out but Kelley believed the family may have lost some house cats.
He confirmed that one woman was taken to the hospital, saying she seemed to be having a panic attack. He wasn't sure if it was related to smoke inhalation.
"They took her to the hospital to make sure everything was OK," he said. "We had one dog we got out. I ran around the back and tried to get the other animals but we were pushed back by the flames."
Kelley said he had just been to the scene and hadn't seen anymore occupants show up.
"It's just devastating," he said.
Fire Chief John Pansecchi was still working the blaze and not yet able to speak to possible causes.
The fire had been somewhat contained but as the evening darkened, the flames could easily be seen from various points around the area. Hastings is on the hill side west of Friend Street and residents were posting pictures from lower elevations of the burning structure.
"I was just walking along Friend Street and well what I thought was maybe like a forest fire turned out to be a house fire. It's pretty bad," said Jackson Rysz, who spotted the flames about the time the fire was reported.
A friend lives in a nearby house, he said, so he was curious and walked up the hill and was passed by police and an ambulance before the fire trucks arrived.
"And then by the time I got to around the bend down there, the whole thing was gone," Rysz said.
Pansecchi on Thursday morning said the fire is under investigation and but that the smoke detectors likely saved her life.
Owner Tracy Videtta told The Berkshire Eagle she was able to flee the structure and call in the fire from a neighbor's home. She was able to save one of her dogs but three dogs and three cats are missing and presumed perished.
The home was owned by Videtta and Laura J. Videtta and was purchased on Dec. 16, 2021, for $300,000, according to documents on file with the Registry of Deeds.
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