GREENFIELD — Nantricia Sibley, the assistant manager of Valley Tees on Federal Street, was supposed to be heading to a fire safety training in Northampton Monday afternoon.
Instead, she and her employees got a first-hand emergency experience when an actual fire broke out around noon out in the back of the building the printing business is housed in, forcing an evacuation.
“I guess I got (the training) anyways!” Sibley laughed. All of the business’ employees — who are developmentally disabled, she said — made it out safely.
The fire broke out in the back of 20 Federal St. in downtown Greenfield around noon Monday, causing road closures and the evacuation of a handful of businesses.
Firefighters from the Greenfield and Turners Falls fire departments could be seen removing the building’s back wall to access the fire around 12:30 p.m.
Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan said the blaze started in the rear wall of the building. Firefighters encountered smoke from the first floor of the building of origin, as well as the second floor and roof vents on arrival.
“Due to the size and construction of the wall, we went to a working fire and brought in mutual aid,” he said.
Firefighters had to cut through metal and plaster to open the wall and access the fire, which was quickly extinguished, Strahan said.
“It was a tremendous amount of work to open the wall,” he said.
The building of origin and the two buildings next door, which together house Aliber’s Bridal, The People’s Pint, Valley Tees, Great Spirits Tattoo, Chet’s Barber Shop and a law office on the second floor, were evacuated, Strahan said.
Aliber’s spokeswoman Cristen Rosinski said Monday afternoon that the store was closed for the week while the owners were out of town, but the fire caused both smoke and water damage to their entire showroom. The store does not plan to open this weekend.
Rosinski said the damaged merchandise is insured.
The People’s Pint remains open.
Federal Street was closed from Main to School streets.
Ben Reigle, the owner of the newly-opened Great Spirits Tattoo, was just about to sit down and begin inking a customer when employees from the law office upstairs came down inquiring about smoke in the building. Shortly after, firefighters came in and told everyone to leave the building.
“We didn’t smell anything but before we knew it, there was lots of smoke out front because of the wind,” Reigle said.
Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan said mutual aid was called in to help fight the fire from a few local departments, including South Deerfield, Deerfield, Brattleboro, Vt., and Turners Falls.
Strahan said the fire remains under investigation by the Greenfield Police and Fire departments.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261, ext. 264
or trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter, @RecorderTom