HATFIELD — A century-old home near Hatfield center was destroyed after a fire started inside it Wednesday afternoon, according to the Hatfield Fire Department.

Fire Chief Robert Flaherty said Thursday that the 16 North St. home, whose owner died several weeks ago, and its contents were destroyed in the blaze that firefighters responded to at 3:55 p.m. after getting 911 calls from people seeing flames and smoke coming from it. No one was inside the home at the time of the fire.

The cause of the fire is still being determined by the state fire marshal’s office, Flaherty said. Investigators were back on the scene in the daylight Thursday to identify what might have caused the blaze.

Even though firefighting crews made it into the second floor and basement of the home when they got to the scene, Flaherty said when the fire was determined to have already spread to the attic, they were pulled out, and the operation transitioned to a defensive attack.

What firefighters discovered inside were numerous items that could burn.

“It was somewhat of a hoarder situation on the property,” Flaherty said.

Firefighters from Northampton, Whately, Hadley and South Deerfield joined Hatfield, with about 35 firefighters on scene, while a Williamsburg crew covered the station.

No one was injured and no neighboring homes were damaged, with the exposures far enough away from the heat and smoke from the fire, Flaherty said.

The area was cleared around 9 p.m., with a fire watch remaining on scene until 10:15 p.m.

Though the homeowner, identified in property records as Danica R. Perry, died, Flaherty said a tag sale was held on the site recently, and that family members and a former partner of Perry’s appeared to have been inside in recent days.

In 2020, the tax collector conducted a taking of the property due to more than $2,000 in unpaid taxes and water and sewer fees.

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