PITTSFIELD, Mass. — One many was taken to Berkshire Medical Center for burns following a structure fire on West Street Wednesday night.

 

Around 8:30 a passerby coming from Berkshire Community College noticed the flames and reported that there was somebody inside the house at the time. When firefighters arrived, they found a fully involved structure fire but, luckily, the man inside the building had already gotten out. 

 

"When we got dispatched it was reported as a house fully involved with people inside, which gets your heat rate up right away because you feel like you are going to have to do a very difficult rescue. On arrival, it was relieving to find the only occupant already outside the house and he said nobody else was in the house. So now it is property we are worried about and not lives we have to save," Deputy Chief Andrew Stephenson said.

 

The man was reportedly the only person in the home at the time and was taken to the hospital with what appeared to be second-degree burns on his hands and first-degree burns on his feet.

 

"He actually denied any injuries but he had visible burns. Any burns on your hands or feet are considered serious burns," Stephenson said. 

 

Neither the injured man nor Stephenson knows exactly how it started, but an investigation is ongoing to figure that out. 

 

"The house structurally is completely sound. But it has very heavy smoke damage and fire damage throughout. The contents are fairly well destroyed on the first floor," Stephenson said.

 

He added, "there is a lot of heat damage on the inside. There is a lot of fire damage in the first room, inside the window from the porch. From there, there is a lot of heat damage going up the stairs and to adjoining rooms."

 

Firefighters had made fairly quick work in knocking down a lot of fire centered mostly on the porch and in the room just inside. 

 

"When I arrived the fire was fully involved on the porch and I could tell the front room just inside from the porch was already on fire. It took us a minute to get a hose line out and the fire had already gotten into the house," Stephenson said.

 

"We knocked down the fire in probably about 15 to 20 minutes. It took about a half an hour to go in and control the fire completely."

 

Stephenson said overall combating the blaze went smooth and there was plenty of access to water. During the blaze, a portion of West Street was closed - from Churchill Street to the college. One lane was eventually reopened to allow those at the college to leave the area.