GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — An outdoor storage area at Ward's Nursery caught fire on Friday and damaged the exterior of an apartment house less than a dozen feet away on Silver Street. 

 

The fire was reported at about 12:52 p.m. and firefighters on Engine 2 could see heavy black smoke while en route to the Main Street business and found a large outdoor fire in the rear of the nursery complex that was extending to an adjacent wood staircase to a second-floor apartment of a stucco multifamily building off Silver Street. The apartment wasn't occupied at the time.