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By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Cities and towns across Hampshire County are issuing temporary bans on outdoor fires as part of an effort to prevent brush fires, which have razed woodlands across the state at an alarming rate over the past month.More than 200 brush fires have been...

By Samuel Gelinas

PLAINFIELD – A brush fire broke out Wednesday afternoon off Summit Street, as dry conditions continue to threaten the area. Plainfield Fire Chief Robert Shaerer estimates 4 to 5 acres of mostly wooded areas were impacted, with no human or animal...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — A new police staffing study recommends hiring five police officers to fill gaps in patrol coverage caused by a growing amount of specialty services and administrative work, but town officials will wait to make any decisions on public...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A late-night fire in downtown Amherst, during which only one career firefighter/paramedic was available to extinguish the blaze, is prompting the union representing town firefighting staff to renew its longstanding appeal for enhanced...

Staff Report

The state’s 911 dispatch system went offline for two hours Tuesday afternoon, forcing residents to call their local police department’s administrative numbers for emergencies during the dispatch system outage. Notification of the system’s failure...

By Alexa Lewis

SOUTHAMPTON — The town will take another significant step toward the construction of a new public safety complex on June 25, when voters will decide at a special election whether to buy land that was already approved at this year’s annual Town...

By Alexa Lewis

SOUTHAMPTON — Standing against the gleaming red backdrop of Engine 3, Richard Fasoli was sworn in as the Southampton Fire Department’s new fire chief in a brief ceremony on Wednesday. “I couldn’t do it without all of your help,” Fasoli said to those...

By ALEXA LEWIS

SOUTHAMPTON — Stepping over fire hoses and wires, Southampton Fire Chief Richard Fasoli opened the driver’s door to one of the fire engines as far as he could on a recent afternoon during a tour of the aging and cramped public safety complex. The...

By EMILEE KELIN

BELCHERTOWN — The president of the Granby Bow and Gun Club insists that stray bullets that hit two homes and a shed in the Turkey Hill area of town did not originate from the club’s long range.Club President Ryan Downing read a statement at the...

By ALISON KUZNITZ

Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy warned lawmakers last week that big cities and small towns face a “major issue” with recruiting new candidates for law enforcement jobs and said he’s worried about the future of public safety in...

By JACK SUNTRUP

EASTHAMPTON — If it were up to Tim Sharrow, all cellphone use would be banned in cars.He has seen distracted drivers rear-end people, distracted drivers slow to go when the light turns green, distracted drivers who don’t seem to realize the...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — Forget Pokémon cards, or whatever children are trading these days. The newest craze could be trading cards featuring Northampton cops.On Tuesday, Police Chief Jody Kasper announced a new trading card initiative designed to strengthen...

By EMILY CUTTS

NORTHAMPTON — A 78-year-old Florence man was hit by a car and killed while riding his bike Monday afternoon.Alan H. Porter was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he was later pronounced dead, according to the Northwestern district...

By EMILY CUTTS

NORTHAMPTON — An Easthampton man accused of manufacturing explosives and explosive devices was ordered held on $150,000 bail Tuesday. Bryan O. Desmarais, 42, of 36 Ridgewood Terrace, pleaded not guilty in Hampshire Superior Court Tuesday afternoon...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — More than two months after the cancellation of High-Five Friday rattled Northampton, the school district announced Monday a permanent police liaison to its elementary schools.The four district elementary schools have lacked a steady law...

By JACK SUNTRUP

EASTHAMPTON — For the love of Easthampton, please don’t release sky lanterns.That firm request comes from Fire Chief David Mottor, who said Wednesday he received an email asking if it was OK to launch what are essentially tiny, unmanned air balloons...

By JACK SUNTRUP

FLORENCE — Jim’s Variety Store in Florence was robbed Wednesday night, the second time the convenience store’s cash register has been plundered since January.Northampton Police Department Capt. John Cartledge said in a news release that a male suspect...

By JACK SUNTRUP

SOUTHAMPTON — When 16-year-old Damien Cox caught a faint burning smell Sunday afternoon, he assumed the scent was wafting from a neighbor’s kitchen. It was Easter, after all.“So we didn’t think anything of it,” he said.Later, his godfather spotted the...

By Dusty Christensen

NORTHAMPTON — Journalists and the occasional enthusiast spend lots of time listening to emergency dispatch scanners, the static voices on the radio providing a window onto the work a city’s emergency services do day and night. So it may only have come...

By EMILY CUTTS

NORTHAMPTON — The number of heroin overdoses in the city has nearly tripled in the last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Northampton Police Department .“We are indeed in the midst of a terrible epidemic,” the department wrote in a...