North Adams Firefighters Battle Blaze, Nonworking Hydrants

Nonfunctioning fire hydrants again hampered efforts to douse a raging fire in a two-family home on Veazie Street on Friday morning.

iBerkshires.com reports the first two trucks on scene shortly before 6 a.m. could not use the hydrant across the street from 47 Veazie and were forced to run hundreds of feet of hose down to River Street and, on the other side, down School Street trying to find working hydrants.

Fire Chief Stephen Meranti said massive flames were coming through roof and second floor when firefighters arrived. The smoke billowed over the city and could be seen from Middle Road in Clarksburg.