ADAMS -- A Brown Street resident lost his home Friday due to a fire that officials say was caused by a faulty electrical circuit.
Alert Hose Co. Fire Chief Paul Goyette said Friday afternoon that the early-morning blaze left Robert Wadsworth's 18 Brown St. home uninhabitable and the structure will likely be torn down.
No firefighters were injured, and Wadsworth, whose home was fully insured, was at work when the fire occurred.
"The fire began in the center of the building at the top of the basement stairs, and it looks to have some type of electrical cause," Goyette said. "A fault occurred in the circuit feeding the basement light, probably due to poor grounding of the electrical equipment we found throughout the basement."
First responders were dispatched to the scene after neighbors reported heavy smoke coming from the two-and-a-half story wood frame home at roughly 5:45 a.m.
"As we got ready to make entrance, fire broke through the roof, so we went into a defensive operation," Goyette said.
This involved lines of firefighters combating the blaze with hoses from the outside, while others employing an area ladder to stem flames that shot tens of feet above the roof.
"[After an hour] we were able to knock most of the fire down using that technique," Goyette said.
The Adams Police Department, Adams Ambulance Service, North Adams Fire Department, North Adams Ambulance and Cheshire Fire Department
Some firefighters remained for most of the afternoon seeking out hot spots in the wreckage.
Later in the day, the Alert Hose Co. was accompanied by members of the state fire marshal's office for an investigation, which identified the electrical cause.
To reach Phil Demers, email
pdemers@thetranscript.com.
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