AMHERST — A fire on the second floor of an apartment house at 219 Amity St. left seven residents displaced on Friday, May 27.
Assistant Fire Chief Donald McKay said investigators believe the fire originated in the second-floor kitchen. The cause of the fire was ruled to be accidental. Though the fire caused heavy damage, the building sustained no structural damage.
One tenant, Genny Ross, was celebrating her 21st birthday eating pizza downtown with roommates when they saw fire trucks rushing down the street.
As they walked toward the house where they rent two apartments, their curiosity turned to fear.
“We obviously didn’t think it was our house,” said Ross. “I was shocked. You never think it’s going to happen to your house.”
The building is managed by Eagle Crest Property Management in Amherst, and neighbors said apartments are often rented to students. The building has nine apartments, two of which are currently occupied.
The initial 911 call came in at 7:43 p.m. when a passerby noticed smoke coming from the third-floor window of the house. A police officer confirmed the fire and the Amherst Fire Department arrived a short time later, McKay said.
“There was a quick knockdown on the fire,” McKay said. “If somebody hadn’t seen the smoke when they did, this whole end of the building would’ve been done.”
The fire charred the cramped kitchen in the second-floor apartment. The cooking hood above the stove hung low off the wall, melted and disfigured from the heat of the flames. The cabinets were blackened and bottles on the counter were scorched, the air thick with smoke.
The floor was littered with debris from firefighters who knocked down walls to chase the fire and contain it to the second floor. The stairway up to the third floor was blackened from smoke and pieces of drywall settled on the stairs.
The apartment will need to be completely gutted, according to Assistant Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren. The first floor sustained water damage, while the upper floors and stairwel suffered heat and smoke damage.
“Looking at this gives a better idea of how disastrous this is for these peoples’ personal lives,” McKay said as crews investigated the scene.
Firefighters from Belchertown, Hadley, Northampton, Pelham and South Hadley were called to help battle the blaze. Several ambulances were called to the scene, though there were no injuries.
As firefighters fought the fire inside the house, gray smoke puffed from the second- and third-floor windows as dusk turned to night. No flames were visible on the outside of the house.
Firefighters drank bottled water and shined flashlights as they entered the home to combat the thick smoke inside. One firefighter was taken to the hospital after suffering from heat exhaustion. She was subsequently released.
Police blocked Amity Street, Elm Street, Lincoln Avenue and Sunset Avenue while firefighters fought the fire. Electricity and gas lines were shut off only to the house that burned.
Ross, a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, huddled with her roommates on the curb and watched the scene unfold.
Ross planned to stay with her family in Westford for the night.
According to Ross, a firefighter planned to escort tenants through the house to gather their belongings before they went to stay elsewhere for the night.
Neighbors crowded the sidewalks surrounding the house, the temperature a muggy 80 degrees.
Coralie Backlund, 27, who rents a neighboring house on Amity Street, saw the fire trucks arrive and went outside to see what was going on.
“It looked really serious. Smoke was coming out of the top windows. The firefighters busted out all the windows,” said Backlund. “There was a lot of smoke, but maybe they can salvage it.”
Phil Jackson, 54, lives on Lincoln Avenue and grew up near the property, which he says is an old, historic house that has been filled with students for the past century.
McKay, who also serves as the town’s chief fire prevention officer, said he will tour of the house following the investigation to see if it is up to code.
McKay does not expect to find much, he said, because the property manager is typically diligent when it comes to fire safety.
“Eagle Crest generally pays attention to the standards,” McKay said.
