Early-morning fire in Springfield

A Randall Hill resident was awakened early Sunday morning by the sound of crackling flames and managed to escape safely from a small but fierce blaze that had firefighters from seven Vermont and New Hampshire towns responding at 3 a.m.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141117/THISJUSTIN/710229997

Early-morning fire in Springfield By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT | November 17,2014 SPRINGFIELD — A Randall Hill resident was awakened early Sunday morning by the sound of crackling flames and managed to escape safely from a small but fierce blaze that had firefighters from seven Vermont and New Hampshire towns responding at 3 a.m. The fire in a 25-by-50-foot barn next to the Jenna White residence was quickly upgraded to a second alarm by the first responder on the scene, the Springfield Fire captain, who was faced with heavy flames showing through a section of the roof. Springfield crews were joined at the scene by engine companies from Bellows Falls, Ascutney and Charlestown, while Charlestown, Rockingham, Westminister and Proctorsville sent water-tanker trucks. Chester sent engines to cover the Springfield station, and Charlestown Ambulance provided EMS standby at the fire scene. The barn was divided into storage and a single residential room, Springfield Fire Captain Bay Wheeler explained. “The daughter of the family wanted her own space and so they made this little area in the end of what was really a storage space,” Wheeler said. “They did some sheetrocking and painting and put a bed in there with a little kitchenette so she was kind of living in there… and luckily she got out.” Wheeler said the cause of the fire was not suspicious and appeared to have begun with a wood stove that was heating the space. “The initial crew knocked the fire down and then as other crews arrived they overhauled it and made sure there was no fire above ceilings or anything like that,” Wheeler said. “The structure is still standing but it burned some of the contents and some of the roof. They are going to have to replace some trusses.”