HADLEY — Four residents were displaced after a fire broke out at an East Street home Thursday at around 11 a.m., with preliminary investigations indicating it was started by a candle.
Clinton Peters, a tenant of the home at 112 East St., said he was sleeping when a loud noise woke him to the sight of his cat dashing away and smoke filling the house. He said he does not know what started the fire and as of noon, he said his cat was still in the house.
“I heard a big boom and got up quick,” Peters said, watching as firefighters battled the blaze. “I don’t know what it was [that caused the fire].”
A statement from the Hadley Fire Department says preliminary findings indicate the fire was accidental, started by a candle, but the the fire is still under investigation. The fire was officially extinguished by approximately 1 p.m.
“We are grateful to report that all occupants safely evacuated the building prior to our arrival. Tragically, one family cat perished in the fire. Our hearts go out to the residents during this difficult time,” a Facebook post states.
In addition to Hadley, firefighters from Pelham, Northampton, Amherst, South Hadley, Hatfield, Sunderland and Granby responded with mutual aid, and around eight engines, several police cruisers and one ambulance were at the scene.
Peters along with fellow tenants Dennis Tyson and Fitzgerald Cameron looked on as firefighters sprayed water into the second floor of the two-story house, where smoke was pouring out of a large opening in the structure. They said a fourth tenant was not home when the fire broke out. The large cloud of smoke exiting the second floor eventually dissipated as firefighters continued to work.
“That room is mine,” Tyson said, pointing to the home’s second floor. “I don’t think it’s livable anymore and it’s the winter.”
Tyson said that after exiting the house with the other tenants, he called the Fire Department. He said he had been living in the house since about 2010 and four tenants live there. They farm on the fields behind the property during the summer, he said.
Fire officials declined to comment at the scene, though Sgt. Michael Romano of the Hadley Police Department said the Red Cross is expected to help the four displaced tenants.
Hadley resident Allen Vance was cross country skiing in the field behind the house when he thought he saw a “snow devil,” sometimes called a snownado, before realizing it was not just the wind kicking up snow.
“I was literally just coming from the Pine Hills area and I saw the smoke coming up and thought it was snow blowing up,” said Vance, watching the fire. “Then the smell hit me and I skied like hell to get over here.”