A coat and a pair of boots are all a man has left after fire raced through his home yesterday.
Source: Union-News (Springfield, MA)
Author: FRED CONTRADA
WILLIAMSBURG, MA – Don Johnson was cleaning up in the Coasters lounge yesterday morning when he saw what looked like a low-lying thunder cloud drifting past the tavern.
When Johnson went outside for a better look, he found the house next door where he lives was on fire.
“I came around the corner and saw flames coming from that window,” Johnson said, pointing as firefighters hacked away at a charred casing at 109 Main St.
Three Williamsburg pump trucks arrived on the scene shortly after the fire was discovered at 11:40 a.m., according to Fire Chief Roger Bisbee. Although Johnson lost nearly all his possessions, no one was hurt. Fire, smoke and water left the two-story house a wet, smoldering mess.
A half-dozen firefighters equipped with air tanks waded into the smoke and succeeded in knocking down the fire in less than an hour, Bisbee said. A Goshen Fire Department ambulance was also on the scene, along with Hampshire County Mobile Air Supply which refilled the firefighters’ air tanks.
Bisbee said the fire apparently started on the first floor. Although Johnson said he suspected the blaze began in the wood stove, Bisbee said the cause had not yet been determined. The chief estimated the damage at $40,000 to $50,000.
An out-of-work surveyor, Johnson said he had been living alone in the house for about five years and had been cleaning up at Coasters to make ends meet. He was doing a load of laundry at the Laundromat adjoining the bar when he and Sue Doran, who owns both the house, bar and Laundromat, noticed something was wrong.
“We saw the cars going by slow and said, ‘What the heck is that?’ ” said Doran.
Although she said the house is insured, Doran did not know whether she will rebuild. “I have no idea what I’m going to do,” she said.
Johnson, who crouched outside the house smoking a cigarette and sipping a cup of coffee, said he might move in temporarily with a friend. “I lost everything except a pair of boots and a coat that I know of,” he said.