Fire on Third Street in Turners Falls displaces at least three residents

TURNERS FALLS — At least three residents have been displaced following a third-floor apartment fire at 73 Third St. Friday afternoon, according to Turners Falls Fire Chief Todd Brunelle.

Montague Police, along with the Turners Falls, Greenfield, Erving and Northfield Fire departments, responded to a report of a kitchen fire shortly after 2 p.m. Carol Bradley, who lives in an adjoining building, ran to her neighbor, who lives below the affected apartment, to assist him when she saw smoke and flames from a neighboring apartment’s window.

Third Street in Turners Falls was closed Friday afternoon as multiple fire crews extinguished a fire in one of the row houses. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

“I tried to shut off the smoke alarm, and then I opened up the front door, my neighbor’s front door,” Bradley said. “The smoke goes up through the hallway and I could smell it, so I went outside and called the Fire Department.”

Although Brunelle said no one was home at the time the fire broke out, and no one was injured in the fire, American Medical Response (AMR) paramedic Emily Ethier said a cat was rescued from the apartment and later given oxygen.

Ethier said Animal Control Officer Kyle Dragon transported the cat to a veterinary clinic in South Deerfield.

“The cat was suffering from smoke inhalation,” she said. “We gave it some oxygen and it seemed to just perk right up.”

Erving Fire Fire Chief Philip Wonkka and Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan converse at a fire in the row houses on Third Street in Turners Falls on Friday. STAFF PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

Brunelle said firefighters were able to extinguish the fire entirely by around 3 p.m. He said the cause is unclear, and would be determined by investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office. At this time, he said it does not appear to be suspicious.

Brunelle credited the prompt extinguishing of the fire to the significant level of mutual aid. He added that an agreement between the Turners Falls and Greenfield Fire departments to respond to one another’s fires has proven successful.

“We got great assistance from our mutual aid partners, and that makes all of the difference in guaranteeing a quick response from everyone. Having that manpower, that staffing, is first and foremost needed, but it also puts the members who are doing work a little more at ease knowing that they have backup,” he explained. “Right now, there’s an agreement between Turners Falls and Greenfield where each of us is responding immediately to any reported structure fire in each other’s community, and that really helps us bolster what we can do on our initial arrival.”