313 Amherst Road, Sunderland heavily involved in smoke and flames
WMECO kills power to the structure
(UPDATED morning after: scroll down)
A fire broke out just after midnight at 313 Amherst Road, Sunderland and many FD units were still on the scene two hours later. The two story wood structure, fortunately, seemed unoccupied at the time.
A Sunderland police officer was first on the scene and tried to quash the flames with a portable fire extinguisher but was driven from the house by ferocity of the fire.
At one point a horn bellowed as a signal for firefighters to get out of the building.
Ladders used to help assist venting the roof
Adjacent garage used as elevated platform to pour water in though window
Fire Departments from Amherst, Hadley, Leverett, South Deerfield, Montague, and Greenfield converged on the scene to assist Sunderland FD who was first on the scene.
Many firefighters on scene
313 Amherst Road, Sunderland 6 bedrooms
The Morning After:
Roof took a major beating
WWLP is reporting that the Everett
ReplyDeleteFire Dept assisted (cause Amherst and Everett sound alike??? lol)
wwlp changed their story to indicate Leverett assisted Sunderland (Makes more sense than Everett!)
ReplyDeleteStill no mention that Amherst assisted as well
Thanks for the great coverage of this, Larry. I made what appeared to have been the initial 911 call at 12:11am (dispatcher wasn't aware of the fire yet) and rushed over to flag down the first officer to arrive. The first engine was on scene with a few minutes, with other supporting departments close behind. It was great response by all emergency crews.
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard either Amherst or Hadley around 12:15 dispatch an engine to a "confirmed structure fire." That's when I jumped in the car.
ReplyDelete"jumped in the car" Thank goodness. Im sure the last thing emergency responders want is you chasing them around in town.. and now out of town... stick to politics... this news is good.. but to run outta the house at midnight and chase firetrucks...come on... You do make a cute badge bunny however.
ReplyDeleteI'm good at getting close enough for decent photos while staying out of the way of the first responders.
ReplyDeleteNever heard a complaint yet from an FD member (one or two from cops, but at the scene of a fire the FD is in charge).
Hey, Larry, somebody called you "cute"! Take it when you can get it!
ReplyDeleteThat house has strictly been a rental. I've watched them come and go in it. Been vacant a few weeks. It will need to be torn down now.
ReplyDeleteWalter is such a keen observer. Oddly so, in fact.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Larry hops on his bike or jumps in his car to let us know what is happening.
ReplyDeleteLocal news (especially on the weekends) is nonexistant.
Yeah my standard snarky retort is if 9/11 had happened on a Saturday, we would have read about it on the front page of Tuesday's Gazette.
ReplyDeleteAnd we saw that last March with the disastrous "Blarney Blowout."
My coverage started at 11:00 AM on Saturday, and by the time the Gazette caught up with the story in their Tuesday edition, I already had over 30,000 hits.