Fire rips through Amherst apartment
December 13, 2004
AMHERST - The Amherst Fire Department is reporting that a fire caused $10,000 worth of damage to a unit in the Mill Valley Apartments on Riverdale Drive at approximately 8:52 p.m. Saturday night.
Amherst Fire Department reported that residents observed fire coming from a bedroom window in unit 780 H shortly before being notified of the incident via phone and a box alarm. Eight on-duty firefighters were summoned to the scene in two pumper fire trucks and student volunteers in their pumper, along with all off-duty Amherst Fire personnel, according to a fire department press release.
The first fire truck arrived on the scene at 8:59 p.m. The firefighters from that truck stretched a hose line into apartment 780 H and extinguished a fire in a bedroom. A dog was also rescued from the apartment. As more firefighters arrived, they checked the remainder of the building for occupants and ventilated smoke from the building.
A total of 30 firefighters in 4 pumpers, an aerial ladder, an ambulance and two squads along with three chief officers and the Fire Department chaplain responded to the scene. There were no civilian injuries reported. However, firefighter Heidi Olmstead injured her arm when she fell at the scene. She was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for evalutaion. A supervisor at the hospital said she believed Olmstead had been treated and released, but could not confirm this report as of press time.
Amherst Fire Department investigators are still determining the cause of the fire, which it is thought to be accidental. The apartment was being occupied by Jenna Mann and Juliana Salter.
Western Massachusetts Electric Company was on the scene and cut power to apartment 780 H. The Amherst Police Department provided initial evacuation of the building and helped with crowd and traffic control. The Amherst Building Department is determining at this time if apartment 780 H can be re-occupied.
The complex is owned by the Mill Valley Limited Partnership, representatives of which were on the scene initiating some door repair and boarding up broken windows.
- Dan O'Brien
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