ERVING — Improper disposal of smoking materials on an exterior porch was the cause of Nov. 22 fire in Erving that claimed the life of a year-old girl.
The fire at 10 West Main St. (Route 2) began sometime after 2 a.m. Nine people were in the residence; eight escaped, some with injuries.
The cause was determined by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services and released in a brief statement Tuesday by the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
According to town property records, the wood-frame home is owned by Cynthia and Leonard Clark.
Erving Fire Chief Philip Wonkka said that firefighters found the one-and-a-half-story house engulfed in flames, with three residents already outside.
Wonkka said the fire was too hot for firefighters to get inside the house, noting that it took hours for emergency workers to get the fire under control at least in part because “cold weather did inhibit it.”
Leonard Clark’s sister, Terry Eaklor, of Turners Falls said previously that the family members in the house were awakened early in the morning by the home’s smoke detectors. She said the family thinks the blaze started in the kitchen area at the bottom of the stairs, which hindered those sleeping upstairs from escaping. She said that Cynthia and Leonard Clark’s daughter and her boyfriend, who lost their 1-year-old, had been staying at the house temporarily and were supposed to move into their own apartment Dec. 1. Their bedroom and the bedroom their 1- and 3-year-olds were sleeping in were both at the top of the stairs, where the fire quickly spread.