Fire heavily damages East Longmeadow home

EAST LONGMEADOW, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Fire crews responded to a fire that raged through a home in East Longmeadow on Tuesday.

Flames could be seen billowing out of the home on Kibbe Road. The fast-moving fire left the house nearly a total loss.

“We do have a partial collapse on the first floor, so it was a defensive break from arrival,” said East Longmeadow Fire Deputy Chief Chistopher Beecher.

The fire began at around 6 a.m. In videos obtained by Western Mass News, neighbors could see just how intense the fire was with most of the house engulfed shortly after it began.

“Westcomm Regional Dispatch dispatched us at around 6:05 this morning for a reported house fire. Approximately four minutes later, we arrived on scene (and) 75 percent of the house was fully involved,” Beecher added.

The response was large with about two dozen firefighters on scene. East Longmeadow was joined by crews from Longmeadow and Wilbraham.

“Mutual aid is automatic as soon as we get a report about a structure fire. We bring it up to a first-alarm assignment and then we get dispatched the resources we need,” Beecher explained.

Kibbe Road was shut down to traffic in both directions between Sturbridge Lane and Black Dog Lane for much of the morning.

The fire was put out within 30 to 45 minutes, with crews also taking extra time to knock down any hot spots.

Luckily, no one was inside when the fire started. However, the damage was done as white smoke continued to smolder out of the mostly destroyed ranch. Beecher told Western Mass News tha tit was not easy knocking down the flames.

“The home is quite aways off the road. It’s on an elevation, so that’s always a little bit tricky. There is some vegetation around the house we had to maneuver around, but for the most part, they were able to get lines in place and start working on the fire immediately,” Beecher said.

Beecher also told us the owners of the home have been notified and no one was injured throughout the entire incident.

The cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation.

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