Published: 9/24/2021 2:19:35 PM
Modified: 9/24/2021 4:47:58 PM
ORANGE — Someone at Brookside Auto Parts Inc. saved one of the company’s buildings by using a front-end loader with a fork attachment to pierce the windshield of a flaming car and remove it from the structure Friday morning, according to Fire Chief James Young.
The chief said he requested mutual aid from surrounding towns after his department received a call of a structure fire at 10:12 a.m. and arrived at 4 Brookside Road to find heavy smoke coming out of a building’s garage bays and eaves. He explained a car was on a lift in one of the bays and caught fire, which extended into the ceiling and a second floor used for storage.
Young said someone used an extinguisher to reduce the fire’s size and then used a front-end loader with forks to spear the vehicle and get it out of the structure prior to firefighters’ arrival.
“I’m not sure who did it, but they saved the building by their actions,” Young said. “Quick thinking saved the building.”
The damaged vehicle, a Ford, was still suspended in the air by the forks as of 11:30 a.m. The back of the car had been melted and deformed.
Young said he did not know how the fire had started, but noted that vehicles have electrical components throughout their bodies.
The chief said firefighters made a hole in one of the building’s sides and were using fans to evacuate the smoke. He said one person was treated at the scene by EMTs but was not taken to a hospital. A forklift near the bay was damaged by the fire.
Young said his department was assisted by the New Salem and Athol fire departments while firefighters from Phillipston served as the rapid intervention team, whose members rush into a structure to rescue downed firefighters. He said he believed the Erving Fire Department was covering Orange’s station.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.