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Firefighters at the scene of a fire on Wealthy Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.
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The dead-end street was blocked off.
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Pittsfield Firefighters Douse Blaze in Wealthy Avenue Home

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Firefighters quickly doused blaze in a single-family home on Wealthy Avenue late Tuesday afternoon. 
 
Scanner reports said it was called in as a lightning strike but the cause is still under investigation. The fire occurred during a line of severe thunderstorms rolling over the region.
 
Capt. Robert Stevens said the fire was called in at 4:24 p.m. and that there was heavy smoke coming from the second floor when they arrived on scene. 
 
"We did make it a double alarm fire," he said. "Engine 2 crew took a line in, made an interior attack, we were able to get the fire under control relatively quickly." 
 
He estimated it took about 20 minutes to bring it under control. Five engines, the ladder company and the chief and deputy chief responded, as well as police, Action Ambulance.
 
A second story window was knocked out of Cape Cod home and soot could be seen around it. 
 
All five occupants of the house were outside when the call came in, and Stevens said that was confirmed when they go to the scene. Non one was injured and no pets were affected. 
 
"Right now we have the double-alarm staffing and a truck company came from Lenox to cover headquarters," he said.
 
The dead-end street was blocked off to traffic during the incident. 

Tags: structure fire,   

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Dalton Considers Updating its Municipal Code

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The town is considering updating its original 18-year municipal code to 2026 standards. 
 
During a recent Select Board meeting, General Code New England account manager Zach Dumont outlined the 18- to-24 month process. 
 
General Code New England is a division of the International Code Council, which writes all the statewide building codes across the United States. For the last 18 years, the organization has been the codifier for municipalities. 
 
"We work with communities to build, maintain, and update your local municipal code. That is your collection of bylaws, ordinances, regulations, and any other legislation you've ever adopted," Dumont said. 
 
Once the project is complete, the town would have a fully updated set of books and an improved eCode360 site, he said. 
 
"The way the process would work is we would put together a scope of work, a timeline, a price point, and everything that we would want to touch or do as a part of the code project," Dumont said. 
 
When a municipal code is built, it has a general lifespan of about 15 to 20 years, and although that is a long time, it goes by very quickly, he said. 
 
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