GREAT BARRINGTON – One Main Street building, Barrington Outfitters, was set ablaze – and two others targeted –early Wednesday morning by what fire officials are describing as arson.
At 2 a.m., a fire alarm in the vacant Cyril & Dane storefront caught the attention of a passing Great Barrington police patrol who alerted the Fire Department. At that time, flames from a rear storage area were visible through the storefront window.
When firefighters arrived, the interior of a storage room in back of Barrington Outfitters was engaged, as was debris on a fire escape at the rear of the building. Residents of apartments in adjacent buildings were evacuated as a precaution.
By 3:30 a.m., that smokey blaze had been extinguished, but fire fighters had discovered two more gasoline-soaked piles of debris, ready to be ignited, one of them behind the Gypsy Joynt.
David Scribner
Excerpts from the Town’s official news release:
On June 20th, 2011 at approximately 1:38AM two (2) fires broke out in the downtown Great Barrington covering the area from the corner of Bridge and Main Streets to Church Street. Several businesses were damaged. Emergency personnel immediately responded, contained the fires, no one was injured. Two (2) fire alarms came in: one at Lee Bank building and the other at the Barrington Outfitters building. Upon arrival, fires were found in both buildings. The fires were controlled by the Great Barrington Fire Department and four mutual aid towns. Police investigation determined that the fires were set. Five (5) other buildings (Shopper’s Guide, Foster’s Hardware, Toole Insurance Agency, Berkshire Block and Gypsy Joynt) locations adjacent to the Foster’s Hardware parking lot were also targeted as well as the Tune Street building on Railroad Street with combustibles and flammable liquids, but were not set on fire. Three (3) vehicles in the Foster’s parking lot had flammable liquid applied to them, but were not burned.
The State Fire Marshall’s Arson Reward Program offers up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons. Please call 800-682-9229 or Police Chief William Walsh at 413-528-0306 with any information.
Police are looking for a male subject wearing dark colored poncho and black North Face winter gloves.