SOUTH DEERFIELD — Emergency crews were called to Routes 5 and 10 for reports of a fire at the Mill Village Professional Building Tuesday about 30 minutes after midnight Tuesday.
“We had a working fire on the south side of the building. It was fully involved and extended into the interior,” said South Deerfield Fire Chief Bill Swasey, standing outside 135 Greenfield Road as fire crews took off gear and picked up equipment near a half-dozen idling fire trucks.
The emergency call went out just after 12:30 a.m. By 1:15 a.m., firefighters had contained the fire and stopped its spread before it reached the second floor. Swasey said there was no one in the building at the time, which is primarily office space.
As for why the fire started, Swasey said it’s too early to tell, noting that it’s under investigation, and, “preliminarily, it started outside.”
Around 1:30 a.m., about a dozen firefighters could be seen carrying charred debris out of a blackened section of the building. Above, a firefighter worked from an extended ladder.
Swasey noted the building was damaged by heat, fire and smoke. Out on the street, police cruisers blocked the road at North Main Street and North Hillside Road.
Other agencies were called to help out in addition to South Deerfield Fire Department, including fire departments from Deerfield, Greenfield, Sunderland, Amherst, Bernardston, and Whately. South County EMS was called to provide medical assistance, and electrical crews were there as a precaution.