GRANBY — If he hadn’t stayed up to watch a second movie on television Monday night, homeowner Charles L. Roberts said, he might not have made it out of his home before it was destroyed by fire.
Standing on the icy driveway of his once-yellow, Cape-style home, Roberts reflected briefly on what would have happened if he had gone to bed instead of watching the 1990 sci-fi action film “Total Recall.”
“I don’t know if I would have made it out,” Roberts said.
Roberts had lived in the home for 18 years and raised his children there. His boys, he said, were with their mother at the time of the fire, leaving Roberts home alone with his dogs, Abby, a yellow Labrador retriever, and Cowboy, a Jack Russell terrier.
The Granby Police Department received calls about the fire at about 10:17 p.m. Granby fire and ambulance crews, South Hadley Fire Districts 1 and 2, and Granby police were dispatched to the scene, according to Police Sgt. Kevin O’Grady.
South Hadley Fire District 2 acting Chief Scott Brady said Tuesday afternoon it was very difficult to get the fire fully extinguished because firefighters were unable to enter the home. They battled the fire into the early morning.
The home is assessed at $111,500 and Brady said it was a total loss.
“The building was so compromised we couldn’t get in,” Brady said.
Knowing Roberts and his dogs were out of the home, Brady said firefighters took on a defensive attack of the fire, remaining outside the home. Once crews were able to bring the fire to a controlled smolder, Brady said he made decision to keep himself and one engine company on scene throughout the night.
“We decided to maintain a visual overnight to ensure none of the smoldering that was occurring grew,” he said.
Roberts said he believed a container full of ash he removed from his wood stove over the weekend and placed under his deck was the cause of the fire. He said he thought rain and dripping snow would put out the ash.
Brady agreed and said it looked like the fire was caused by the improper disposal of cinders or ashes from a wood stove.
In addition to the wood deck that spanned the rear of the house, Roberts said, there were around nine wood pallets on the deck waiting to be chopped up as well as a bail of hay. There also was a tractor parked underneath the deck, according to Roberts.
The cracking and snapping sounds of fire, Roberts said, woke him up as he dozed on a couch. As he made his way through the hallway, Roberts said he could see through a window “orange flames raging.”
There wasn’t fire in the house yet, but Roberts said he heard the sound of breaking glass so he grabbed his dog leashes.
By the time he located the second dog, Roberts said smoke coming down from the ceiling had reached his hip.
“I could hear my neighbor breaking windows and screaming for me,” he said.
Out safe with Abby and Cowboy, Roberts said, he watched his house go up in flames from across the street.
“It was a trip,” he said of the experience.
As his insurance adjuster walked around the house taking photos of the broken windows and blackened interior, Roberts said he felt “terrible, but I’m coping.”
Roberts said his parents were on their way in from Pittsburgh after learning of the fire and his dogs are staying with his children. He thinks his insurance company will set him up in a hotel.
He said he hopes to be able to remain in the neighborhood as he loves both the area and his neighbors.
Brady urged those who use wood stoves or fireplaces on a regular basis to follow the manufacturer’s instructions very closely on proper use and to educate themselves on how to dispose of stove refuse and cinders in a proper way. He explained that ash and cinders should be secured in a non-combustible container with a lid and removed completely from a house, garage, deck or breezeway.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.