Friday, January 04
DALTON — Investigators spent all day yesterday searching for what caused
an early morning house fire on Dalton Division Road.
Fire gutted Stephen DeGregorio's 155 Dalton Division Road home so completely, passersby could see straight through the front and out a gaping hole in the back.
Fire Chief Richard Kardasen said Dalton and Hinsdale crews were on the scene shortly after a 4:52 a.m. call alerted them, and they arrived to find flames burning through the roof. Despite the fire's intensity and an outside air temperature of minus 4 degrees, crews had the fire out in just over an hour.
"There's pretty extensive damage," said Kardasen. Another firefighter described the home as "gone."
DeGregorio owns DeGregorio Painting Inc. While two company vehicles were parked in the driveway, no one was found home at the time. Fire officials did not locate DeGregorio until late in the evening yesterday.
Christine DeGregorio, Stephen's mother, said she was saddened by news of the fire. In a phone interview yesterday, she said she once lived in the house, which was a ranch-style home with an upper-level addition. She did not believe there were any other residents or pets in the home.
According to the state Registry of Deeds, Stephen DeGregorio acquired the home in March 2007 from Erin M. Coty and Erin M. DeGregorio.
Meanwhile, an investigator from the state fire marshal's office spent yesterday afternoon with Dalton authorities inspecting the scene. The cold weather was so severe in the pre-dawn hours, water from the fire hoses froze instantly to the house, the ground and the road.
Police rerouted traffic around the scene yesterday morning, and the highway department sanded the icy road. Dalton Division Road was opened by midday.
The fire chief asked anyone with information about the fire to call the department at (413) 684-0300.
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1/05/08 Followup
Arson hasn't 'been ruled in or out'
By Conor Berry, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Last Updated: 01/05/2008 04:31:02 AM EST
Saturday, January 05
DALTON — The blaze that destroyed a Dalton Division Road house on Thursday
is still under investigation by state fire officials.
"(Arson) hasn't been ruled in or out. It's too early to determine," said Donna Nelson, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.
"Just because we're called in doesn't mean it's an arson," Nelson said.
Involving the fire marshal's office is standard operating procedure for structure fires that are the magnitude of the 4:52 a.m. blaze, according to Dalton Fire Chief Richard Kardasen.
The fire, which broke out on the coldest morning of this season so far, took a little more than an hour to extinguish. Even so, it was a tough battle, according to Kardasen, with below-zero temperatures and windy conditions hampering firefighters.
The two-story residence was a total loss, he said.
"They were the worst conditions to fight a fire under," said the chief, praising area residents for offering warm homes and hot chocolate to his frigid crew of firefighters.
"We had people who were calling us to offer their houses up to the firemen," Kardasen said.
Trooper Gerald D. Perwak, a detective assigned to the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Section, conducted Thursday's investigation for the fire marshal's office. He did not return a reporter's phone message yesterday.
The ruined house, at 155 Dalton Division Road, is owned by Stephen DeGregorio, proprietor of DeGregorio Painting & Drywall.
DeGregorio could not be reached for comment yesterday. His home number was disconnected and his work number, emblazoned on a company van parked in the driveway of the property, was changed or disconnected, according to a telephone company recording.
DeGregorio's mother, Christine DeGregorio, said that her son had been working on his Dalton house recently. He was not home at the time of the fire, she said.