LEVERETT – A fire that started inside a garage late Friday night required 25 firefighters from nine different fire departments to extinguish, causing $50,000 to $75,000 in damage but no injuries.
Leverett Fire Chief John Ingram said Saturday that his volunteer department responded to a call around 11:45 p.m. from a concerned neighbor who heard crackling noises, and ventured outside to discover the garage across the street at 131 Shutesbury Road aflame.
Firefighters from nine communities – Leverett, Shutesbury, Amherst, South Deerfield, Sunderland, Montague Center, Turners Falls, Orange and New Salem – converged on the scene.
“We had tankers lined up and ready to go in case (the fire) went into the house,” Ingram said. The firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze before it reached the house, which is attached to the garage.
The homeowners were not home.
A motorcycle and many tools that were stored in the garage were destroyed, and firefighters had to tear down some of the wall between the house and the garage to make sure there weren’t any flames within the space.
Ingram said firefighters had the fire extinguished within 25 minutes. Because of the presence of an oxygen tank that was used for welding and a propane tank within the garage, Ingram said, the fire had the potential to be very hazardous.
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services is investigating the cause.