ORANGE — A father and his 5-year-old son escaped unharmed from a fire at 120 Moss Brook Road Wednesday, but their family lost their home and its contents.
Now, a local business is hoping people in the area will donate money to the family and has started a fundraiser.
Witty’s Funeral Home is asking for monetary donations to go directly to the Swedbergs, whose home was destroyed after some burning debris was not entirely extinguished, lighting surrounding buildings on fire, according to state Fire Marshal’s Office spokeswoman Cynthia Ouellette.
To donate money, send a check to Witty’s Funeral Home at 158 South Main St. Make the check out to Witty’s Funeral Home, and put “Swedberg” or “Fire Fund” in the memo line. Checks will be cashed and the money given directly to the Swedbergs.
Meanwhile, another fundraiser for the family has been started on GoFundMe by Leverett resident Nathan Holesovsky. As of Thursday night, the online fundraiser had already raised more than $4,000 toward its $10,000 goal.
To contribute to the online fundraiser, visit bit.ly/2HaUZkJ.
Jeff Cole, owner of Witty’s Funeral Home, said Witty’s frequently raises money for people who have lost their homes to fires, having done so for roughly 12 years now. He said it’s typical for the community to pull together and raise anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 for each fundraiser.
“People lose their homes. They lose everything,” Cole said. “They lose their banking information.”
Cole said losing banking documents and other financial information during a fire makes it particularly hard for families to recover after house fires.
Will Swedberg awoke around 7 a.m. Wednesday to banging on his front door from a passing motorist, who had stopped after driving by and seeing the beginnings of a fire. Swedberg woke his son, Alex, and tried to exit the home through a side door.
The heat from the fire at that door was intense, preventing an exit, and Swedberg passed Alex out of a window to the motorist before exiting out the window himself. Swedberg was able to save his truck after going quickly back into the house to retrieve his keys.
While watching the fire, Swedberg said he was relieved he and his son were able to escape — Alex clutched a stuffed dinosaur while the house burned. Swedberg realized his parents, Fred and Elizabeth Swedberg, who owned the house, and his sister, Kristine Swedberg, no longer had a home to return to after going out of state to attend a music festival.
Swedberg said the house was insured. The family cat, Arthur, was unaccounted for during the blaze.
The fire was later determined to have started outside the home, where debris had been burning but was not fully extinguished, lighting up surrounding buildings, including greenhouses and a barn, as well as the main building, Ouellette said.
According to a statement from the Orange Fire Department, the first call about the fire came after someone saw a plume of smoke from Route 2.
Because 7 a.m. was shift-change time at the Orange Fire Department, both the early morning staff and the full-time day staff immediately responded to the fire. A black column of smoke could be seen from the downtown area while crews made their way to Moss Brook Road, which does not have any fire hydrants.
“This was a frustrating fire for all members involved due to lack of immediate water available,” the Orange Fire Department said in a statement. “However, with the teamwork of our mutual aid partners, we ended up with a good supply of continuous water once it was established, and approximately 138,000 gallons of water were trucked in and utilized for fire suppression.”
Because the rural area had no fire hydrants — only about one-third of town is serviceable with fire hydrants, mainly in the center of town, Orange Fire Chief James Young said — a hose pumped water from an estimated 2,000 yards away at the intersection of Route 2A and Wendell Depot Road by the Millers River. Another pumper was stationed halfway up the hill to help pump the water to the scene.
Responding to the scene were Orange, Athol, New Salem, Phillipston, Erving, Wendell, Northfield, Turners Falls, Greenfield, Shutesbury, Royalston and Templeton fire departments. Local and state police also arrived and handled traffic, while the Salvation Army arrived with bottled water and granola bars. National Grid was on scene to cut power to the road.
Dan Parsons, emergency disaster services coordinator at the Salvation Army branch in Athol, said the group is helping the family.
“We will continue in that role in the days and months to come, as their needs arise,” Parsons said. “Obviously, they’ve lost everything.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.