<

>

Firefighters contained a fire that started on a new porch roof at a home undergoing renovation on East Main Street.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — An errant ember may be to blame for a fire at a home undergoing renovations on East Main Street.

The house is owned by Neal Segala; it is currently unoccupied.

Neighbors said the building across from the intersection with Gallup Street had been undergoing renovations all summer. An old addition had been pulled off and a new open L-shaped porch had been built. The fire apparently began on top of the porch roof on the front left corner of the house.

"They had people working on the building today," said Fire Director Stephen Meranti. "It started on that roof and that's where they were working ... They use a torch to heat up the roofing materials and it got into the framing ...  and extended into the wall."

It is believed an ember from the torch may have flared up inside the roof or wall.

The work stopped at about 4 p.m.; several calls reporting smoke and fire came in about 4:42. Meranti said a column of smoke could be seen from the downtown. All off-duty firefighters were called in.

"When we got here we had fire on the roof and the exterior wall," he said. "The guys did a great job. They grabbed the ladder to the roof, stretched a line to the roof."

Firefighters led by Lt. John Paciorek attacked the blaze from the roof and forced entrance into the vacant building to see if it extended inside. The exterior wall was pulled off at the corner and inside a second story room; firefighters also pulled of the exterior molding on the first floor. The window on the second story room was also pulled out.

The 19th-century house has balloon construction and plank walls.

"We got it before it really extended up into the attic," Meranti said. "We had to open up some walls but it's not super damaged."

The owner was planning to secure the building for the night.