HOLYOKE, MA - A busy day turned into a busy night for the members of the Holyoke F.D. on May 28th. Holyoke firefighters spent most of the early evening hours dealing with a Wildland-Urban Interface incident in the Springdale neighborhood when a fire in a stand of old growth trees and discarded yard waste extended to two wood-frame garages off Main St., and then had to return later in the evening when there was a small rekindle in the wooded area.

While crews were finishing up on Main Street, Fire Alarm received 911 calls for a house fire on Taylor Street on the opposite side of the city. The two-and-a-half-story wood-frame home at 54 Taylor St. had been the scene of a previous fire and was boarded up and secured from that incident when HFD arrived on scene just before 1:00 A.M. on May 29th to find heavy fire venting from the first and second floors on both the 'Bravo' and 'Charlie' sides. With heavy fire attacking the structural components of the building and the entrance ways still being secured from the previous fire, Taylor St. command elected to use a defensive attack strategy and protect the exposure buildings. 

Crews set up Truck 2's ladder pipe, several street guns and hand lines on all four sides of the building to knock down the fire, which took until well after sun rise to accomplish. Since the home was unoccupied at the time of the fire, no residents were in danger and no fire fighters sustained injury during the fire fighting operation. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the HFD and the State Fire Marshal's office.