‘It Could’ve Been A Lot Worse’, Tenant, PFD Make Quick Stop At Fern St. Fire

Just after 4 p.m on Wednesday, the Pittsfield Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 10 Fern St. which is located off Elizabeth St.

Crews from Engines 1,3,6 and Truck 2 arrived to find a trash barrel and contents on fire near the home's porch.

"We originally thought it was an outside brush fire when we first pulled up, the tenant had pulled the garbage can from off the porch and it was burning in the yard about 20 feet from the house", said Deputy Chief Neil Myers, "then once we got closer, you could see the porch was burning up".

One tenant was in the shower and her son upstairs sleeping when the smoke alarms went off. The tenant eventually found the area on the porch where the garbage cans were to be on fire and doused it with water, according to Myers.

The tenant eventually dragged the garbage can onto the lawn, luckily without getting burnt, before firefighters arrived.

Although it was reported that everyone was out safely, crews did a search and looked for fire extension within the house and under the siding of the house.

"The house was minutes away from going up as the house had old asphalt siding underneath the vinyl siding. That asphalt siding is extremely flammable", said Myers.

No one was hurt and careless disposal of smoking materials was determined to be the cause of the fire.