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At this time, the department's K9 unit was sniffing out the perimeter and the McKay Street parking garage.

UPDATE: Pittsfield Police Investigating Berkshire Bank Robbery

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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It is believed that only this Berkshire Bank location is closed due to the robbery. McKay Street remains open to through traffic.

Updated with information from the Pittsfield Police Department: On Wednesday, Nov. 30, at approximately 09:21 a.m., Pittsfield Police Officers were dispatched to Berkshire Bank at 66 West Street for a hold up alarm.

Information from dispatch was that a robbery was in progress. According to witnesses at the scene, the suspect was described as a white man wearing a brown hat, black jacket, jeans, mask and sunglasses. 
 
According to police, the suspect had passed a handwritten note demanding money. The suspect fled the scene and headed toward the McKay Street parking deck. 
 
No cash was taken, no injuries were reported and no weapon was displayed. 
 
Video surveillance in the area is being reviewed and aiding in the investigation. Evidence was collected in the vicinity of the bank and surrounding areas. 
 
The investigation is being conducted by the Pittsfield Police Detective Bureau, Digital Evidence Unit, Drug Unit, K9 Unit, Anti-Crime Unit and uniformed patrol.
 
This remains an active investigation. 
 
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police Department Detective Bureau (413-448-9705), call the Tip line (413-448- 9706), or send us a tip via text message by texting “PITTIP” and your message to 847411 (TIP411)
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Original Post: Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 10:37 am. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Bank's West Street location is locked down while police investigate a morning robbery via note pass.

Police vehicles have lined the surrounding area, and the bank's McKay Street entrance is secured with caution tape.

Police Capt. Thomas Dawley said the call came in around 9:20 a.m. while the robbery was in progress. He reported that the person fled the scene. According to police, the robber left a note at the bank demanding money. The amount of money taken is unknown, and there were no injuries.

"That's all we have right now, we're following up on some leads," Dawley said around 10 a.m.

At this time, the department's K9 unit was sniffing out the perimeter, and the McKay Street parking garage.

"We found some evidence. We don't know if it's related or not but we have the dog doing ... it's called an article search. So the dog is doing an article search right now in this parking deck and wherever it takes them," Dawley reported.

"We're also checking video right now from Berkshire Bank. Like I said, no one was injured, no threats, and we're just going to follow what we can. It's developing right now."

It is believed that only this Berkshire Bank location is closed due to the robbery. McKay Street remains open to through traffic. There are six Berkshire Bank branches in Pittsfield. 

This is the second bank robbery in the city this year. The Greylock Federal Credit Union on Kellog Street was robbed Aug. 8 and a suspect arrested 10 days later. The Berkshire Bank branch on Elm Street was robbed in September 2018 and the suspect apprehended within two hours. Both were cases of unarmed robbery in which a note was passed to a teller demanding money. 

In May, four people were arrested after an alleged fraudulent transaction at the Berkshire Bank in Great Barrington and charged with unarmed robbery.


Tags: bank robbery,   

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State Fire Marshal: New Tracking Tool Identifies 50 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

STOW, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' new tool for tracking lithium-ion battery fires has helped to identify 50 such incidents in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine.
 
The Department of Fire Services launched its Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Investigative Checklist on Oct. 13, 2023. It immediately went into use by the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal's office, and local fire departments were urged to adopt it as well. 
 
Developed by the DFS Fire Safety Division, the checklist can be used by fire investigators to gather basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries played a part. That information is then entered into a database to identify patterns and trends.
 
"We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we've seen in prior years."
 
Prior to the checklist, the state's fire service relied on battery fire data reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS tracks battery fires but does not specifically gather data on the types of batteries involved. Some fields do not require the detailed information that Massachusetts officials were seeking, and some fires may be coded according to the type of device involved rather than the type of battery. Moreover, MFIRS reports sometimes take weeks or months to be completed and uploaded.
 
"Investigators using the Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Checklist are getting us better data faster," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "The tool is helpful, but the people using it are the key to its success."
 
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year were reported to MFIRS – less than half the number identified by investigators using the checklist over the past six months. The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors, State Fire Marshal Davine said. For example, fires that started with another item but impinged upon a battery-powered device, causing it to go into thermal runaway, might not be categorized as a battery fire in MFIRS or NFIRS.
 
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