Historic Egremont Inn destroyed by fire

Firefighters from nearly a dozen surrounding communities are battling a fire at the historic Egremont Inn Friday morning. There are reports that the building has partially collapsed. Photo courtesy of Andy Balise

(Courtesy of WWLP 22 Springfield,MA)
Historic Egremont Inn destroyed by fire
Firefighters from Mass, NY, Conn. battle blaze
Updated: Friday, 11 Dec 2009, 12:35 PM EST
Published : Friday, 11 Dec 2009, 6:10 AM EST

Jennifer Colby
Firefighters from nearly a dozen communities in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut battled a five-alarm fire at the historic Egremont Inn on Friday morning. Residents woke up in shock to find out that the 250-year-old building was burning to the ground.

Fire crews were first called to fire at 10 Old Sheffield Road around 5 a.m. on Friday and by the time they arrived the three-story, wooden building was fully engulfed in flames.

When a 22News crew arrived on scene, flames could be seen shooting from the roof and part of the building had already collapsed.

The Egremont Inn is over 250 years old and grew from a tavern during the American Revolutionary War.

"It's an incredibly old structure. It was stage coach stop back many, many years ago. To lose something so beautiful and to lose all the history and the antiques and everything. It just saddens everybody who looks at it. It's going to sadden us for years to come. You can't bring anything like this back," said Egremont Select Board Chairman Bruce Cumsky.

Egremont Police Chief Reena Bucknell told 22News that firefighters had a tough time battling the blaze because the water kept freezing.

Chief Bucknell said it is too early to comment on the cause of the fire, but said the State Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate. There were no reports of any injuries