By Trevor Jones, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Updated: 04/11/2009 09:26:40 AM EDT
Click photo to enlarge«1»Saturday, April 11
ALFORD — A massive house fire, visible from Great Barrington, took 10 hours and crews from 11 communities to extinguish Friday morning, leaving the structure beyond repair.
The Alford Fire Department received word at 6:30 p.m. Thursday of the fire at 26 East Road. By the time crews arrived, the two-story building was fully engulfed in flames and it wasn't fully extinguished until 4:30 Friday morning.
The property is a second home owned by John Littlechild, and no one was at the property when the fire started. It took firefighters from Alford, Great Barrington, Housatonic, Egremont, Sheffield, New Marlborough, Monterey, Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, Richmond, and Hinsdale to put out the blaze.
Alford Fire Chief Stephen Berkel said the fire damage has left the house a total loss.
"It's very bad," said Berkel. "It's to the point now that I've deemed it unsafe, and they're going to have to knock the rest of it down."
The cause of the fire is unclear. The estate's caretaker — the last person on the premises before the fire apparently broke out — had left two hours before it was reported.
"In the manner of two hours, something went wrong but we really don't know yet. We're guessing at some stuff, but we aren't totally sure of the cause of the fire yet," said Berkel.
The fire took so long to put, according to Berkel, because the entire building was already ablaze when
crews arrived, and water tankers had to be used to make the mile-long trip up the driveway to the house.
Also, the fire had to be fought primarily from the outside, as firefighters dealt with hidden panels, odd-shaped walls and limited access to the second floor and basement due to portions of the first floor having already caved in, Berkel said.
He also said the house is also very close to the tree line so crews had to ensure the fire was completely out before they left the scene.
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