AMHERST — An early afternoon fire on Sunday at a house off Northampton Road badly damaged the structure, though no one was hurt.
Amherst firefighters and emergency personnel vehicles from a number of other towns, including Northampton, Pelham and Belchertown, responded to the blaze at 110 Blue Hills Road, about a quarter of a mile from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Amherst Fire Chief Tim Nelson said the fire was reported shortly before 2 p.m. by the home’s residents, whose names were not immediately available; both people got safely out of the house, he added.
Nelson said the residents first spotted the fire in their attic. Flames then spread to other parts of the house.
The cause of the blaze has yet to be determined, Nelson added.
“That’s something we’ll be working on for the next several days,” he said.
At about 2:30 p.m., over a dozen firefighters could be seen at the site; smoke was spiraling up from the rear of the house through a heavily damaged roof, and jets of water shot from inside the home came through a large hole in the roof.
A firefighter positioned at the end of a ladder that went up to the roof of the front of the house used a chain saw, then the blunt end of an ax, to cut open a large rectangle from the roof, allowing more smoke to escape.
Nelson said some of the firefighters were feeling worn out by the heat after dealing with the blaze on such a hot day, but otherwise no injuries were reported.
“It’s a hot day, and we (Amherst) had only eight personnel on duty, and you tend to go through them pretty quickly,” he said. “That’s why we called in some extra help.”
Nelson said the fire was largely contained by about 3 p.m., though several firefighters and other emergency personnel remained at the scene through the afternoon, and some smoke continued to drift in the air.
Nelson said the house has “significant damage” from fire, smoke and the water used to put the blaze out, and he guessed it would be uninhabitable for at least a month.
The residents were making arrangements to stay with friends for at least the next few days, he said.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.