ATHOL — Fire blazed into the evening, taxing local fire departments, scorching about 200 square feet of forest and destroying a cabin on a private campground next to Lake Ellis, at 419 Petersham Road Wednesday night.
It took the Athol Fire Department just a few minutes to arrive at the fire after Ben King, a neighbor, called the department around 6:20 p.m. about a brush fire. Fire Chief John Duguay said when they arrived, they found a small building completely engulfed in flames and partially collapsed.
The chief said the most difficult part of the emergency was finding a good water supply. With the nearest fire hydrant was about a quarter-mile from the fire, near the road, firefighters had to stretch at least 1,000 feet of hose to reach the site, owned by Marie Devine, according to her son, Greg Devine, who was at the scene.
“It didn’t take long (to put out) once we got a good water supply going,” Duguay said, adding that Orange, Petersham and Phillipston fire departments were called in for backup. The state fire marshal was called in to investigate.