North Adams Hydrants An Issue With Early Morning Fire On Veazie (Photos)

Nonfunctioning fire hydrants again hampered efforts to get a raging fire under control at a two-family home at 47 Veazie Street in North Adams called in at around 5:50 this morning. I used to live a couple of doors up on Veazie and remember the home that was there.

All photos courtesy and with the permission of Nick Mantello.

IBerkshires.com reports that fire trucks on scene shortly before 6 am could not use the hydrant across the street from the Veazie Street home and were forced to run hundreds of feet of hose down to River Street and down School Street trying to find working hydrants.

The status of the city's fire hydrants was raised last month after a fire at the Greylock Valley Apartments. In that case, again, firefighters found a nonworking hydrant directly across from the apartment block.

An all-call was issued at 5:50 a.m. and the department had all trucks on the scene with water flows hitting the building from three angles. Clarksburg Fire Department was covering the North Adams station and Northern Berkshire EMS arrived with its rehab setup.

The Department of Public Works sent a truck to sand the steep street that was turning to ice in the frigid temperatures.

According to Fire Chief Stephen Meranti, massive flames were coming through roof and second floor when firefighters arrived, and the occupants were all out of the building. The building is a total loss. Meranti said the owner had mentioned recent trouble with the electrical panel but the damage was so significant there may be no way to determine the cause.

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