Emergency personnel transport a Washington House resident into a waiting ambulance after a fire broke out in the building last night. The fire impacted nearly 100 residents. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Fire fighters from four communities responded to a three-alarm blaze at the Washington House, located at 16 Washington St., across from the Westfield Police Department, shortly before 10 p.m. last night.
Westfield firefighters received the first alarm at 9:43 p.m. from residents of the third floor, north wing of the four story building. Deputy Fire Chief James Kane along with two engines and the department’s platform truck, were dispatched to the scene. While those firefighters were en route, a second call was received from residents of the fourth floor, reporting thick smoke, and a second alarm was sounded.
Kane, upon arriving at the scene and observing dense black smoke being emitted from the third and fourth floors of the elderly housing apartment building, requested an additional alarm because of the number of residents who needed assistance evacuating the building.
The Westfield Fire Department notified the American Red Cross that residents were being displaced from their apartments because of the smoke and water damaged resulting from the fire.
Westfield police officers were already assisting residents out of the building as it was filling with smoke, Kane reported.
Dawn Leaks, American Red Cross Regional Director of Communications, said that the American Red Cross provided overnight shelter for 14 seniors following the fire. Nearly 100 seniors were affected by the fire but many were allowed back into their apartments. The Red Cross set up a shelter at the Central Baptist Church at 115 Elm St. in Westfield for those displaced.
Shelter residents were provided snacks, water, coffee and breakfast. Red Cross responders were working with those affected today to further assist with recovery, Leaks said.
Two residents and a police officer were treated at Noble Hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns.
Deputy Fire Chief Pat Kane said this morning that the cause of the fire remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, The Westfield Fire and Westfield Police departments. A state wiring inspector is also involved in determining the cause of the fire which caused an estimated $1 million in damage to the Westfield Housing Authority building.
The fire apparently started in apartment 313.
Westfield had six engines, the platform truck and all five ambulances at the fire scene.
Firefighters from West Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, Southwick, and Southampton were dispatched to Westfield with ambulances and apparatus. Holyoke dispatched a platform truck to assist city firefighters at the fire scene, while the other departments covered the headquarters station on Broad Street and Southampton Road substation.
The Westfield Emergency Management Department coordinated with Lecrenski Brother Transportation. Inc. to provide two buses to transport residents to the shelter set up at the Central Baptist Church on Elm Street.
Firefighters remain on the scene until 11:08 p.m. as apparatus were released to their home communities, stations and substations. Westfield police secured the building overnight.
The north wing of the building, which sustained the greatest amount of damage, was condemned by city inspectors pending further inspections.
Deputy Pat Kane said the blaze created sufficient heat to buckle the structural steel of the building.
