ORANGE — A two-story wood-frame house was fully involved when Orange Fire Department arrived on Congress Street shortly after 2 a.m. today.
Fire Chief James Young said firefighters went into a defensive mode, attacking from the exterior and protecting neighboring homes.
Next door, at 83 Congress St., the siding was melting from the intense heat.
Young said the house was believed to be vacant.
Orange’s ladder truck poured water from above while crews rotated fighting around the building that had already lost its roof and one of the walls. Fire trucks lined the street all the way down to South Main Street.
Shortly after 3:30, some crews were released from the scene as the fire was mostly extinguished, smoke still rising from the shell of a structure.
Towns responding were Orange, Erving, New Salem, Greenfield, Bernardston, Warwick, Athol, Shutesbury, Wendell, Turners Falls and Northfield.
