Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA)
Author: FRED CONTRADA
HATFIELD, MA – A fire that apparently started in Mama Maria’s restaurant destroyed downtown Hatfield’s only commercial center early this morning.
Equipment and firefighters from Whately, Deerfield, South Deerfield, Sunderland, Williamsburg and Goshen were summoned to assist the Hatfield Fire Department in battling the blaze at the small Main Street mall near the junction of School Street. The mall also contained a Dairy Mart and an out-of-service Heritage Bank automated teller.
Call for mutual aid
According to Hatfield Fire Chief Robert Osepowicz, the first alarm came in at about 4:30 a.m. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find the fire breaking through the roof of the mall in the kitchen area of the restaurant, Osepowicz said. Hatfield immediately called for mutual aid, he added.
Firefighters had the blaze under control by 5:45 a.m. and extinguished it by 6:30 a.m., Osepowicz said. He described the damage as near total.
“We tried to keep it away from the Dairy Mart,” he said, adding that the town’s Board of Health has already condemned the convenience store and its contents.
As firefighters continued to monitor the site at noon yesterday, the mall lay in near-ruin with most of its roof gone. Sunlight poured into Mama Maria’s where charred timbers lay amid blackened furniture and equipment.
Will try to reopen Pasquale Cappaccio of Springfield, the owner of Mama Maria’s, sat on the curb across the street and pondered the damage.
“I’m going to try to reopen,” Cappaccio said. “I like this town.”
Cappaccio said he left the restaurant at 11 p.m. Friday and guessed that it closed for the night between then and 1 a.m. He said he had no idea how the fire started. Cappaccio described his insurance coverage as “barely enough to rebuild.” The restaurant employed eight people, he said.
Although he owned the inside of the restaurant, Cappaccio leased his part of the mall building from Eric Gross, who owns the mall. Gross, who lives in Amherst, could not be reached for comment but Cappaccio said Gross told him he will rebuild.
The Heritage automated teller area had been vacant since the bank folded earlier this year, according to Osepowicz. Fleet Bank has assumed Heritage’s assets.
State troopers Alan W. Dietrich, Michael Habel and Michael Mazza were also on the scene yesterday in conjunction with the state fire marshal’s office. A dog trained to sniff accelerants used to start fires sniffed through the rubble but Dietrich said the dog’s presence did not indicate that the fire’s origin is suspicious. The fire is still under investigation, Dietrich said.
Osepowicz said that many Hatfield residents patronized the restaurant and depended on the Dairy Mart for groceries and gas.
“This is going to inconvenience a lot of people,” he said.