Dalton fire blamed on cigarette

By Tony Dobrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Updated: 04/18/2009 07:26:53 AM EDT


Saturday, April 18
DALTON — An early morning fire roared through a four-unit apartment house at 80 Daly Ave. on Friday, displacing the four families who lived there, according to Dalton Assistant Fire Chief Chris Cachet.
The building's 10 residents all got out safely, but the building was severely damaged. Cachet said 31 firefighters from four Berkshire communities were called in to fight the blaze, which was reported to authorities around 2:15 a.m., and took two hours to bring under control.

Firefighters remained on the scene until 8:30 a.m.

"It's a total loss," said Tracy Broderick of Hinsdale, who, with her husband Richard, has owned the building for 18 years. The Brodericks, who lived in one of the apartments when they first met, were at the scene Friday morning observing the damage.

"It's just rubble pretty much," said Tracy Broderick, while standing in the backyard, which was littered with shingles.

Richard Broderick said the fire began from a lit cigarette that was left on the backstairs. Cachet said firefighters have ruled out arson, but that the official cause of the blaze had yet to be determined.

"Everything is up in the air right now," he said.

He estimated the total amount of fire damage at $250,000. Part of the roof is gone.

Cachet said the fire began at the back of the house, then went up the side into the eaves where it reached the attic. The blaze was so hot, it


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caused the siding to buckle on a neighboring home at 86 High St.
"It was pretty intense," Cachet said.

Firefighters were able to extinguish part of the blaze from the inside, but were unable to enter the attic because it had been sealed off from the rest of the house for safety reasons, Cachet said. They left the house and continued fighting the blaze from the outside.

Having difficulty dousing the flames in the attic from the ground, authorities decided to use the Pittsfield Fire Department's new 100-foot aerial ladder truck. The ladder truck was brought to the scene at 6 a.m., said Pittsfield Deputy Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski.

The truck enabled firefighters to shoot water down on the flames from above after the attic collapsed into the second floor, Czerwinski said.

Pittsfield's new $750,000 ladder truck, the cost of which was covered mostly by a $675,000 federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security, officially went into service this month. According to Cachet, Friday's fire was the first time the truck had been put to use.

"It made its maiden voyage in Dalton," he said.

Units from the Dalton, Hinsdale, Pittsfield, and Windsor fire departments responded to the blaze. The American Red Cross was called in to find alternative living arrangements for the displaced families. The Brodericks have fire insurance.

"It's sad," said a neighbor on Daly Avenue, who declined to be identified. "You have four families, and they don't have anything."

To reach Tony Dobrowolski: tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6224