Fire and Recovery

Fire came late Tuesday on .

Firefighters and police officers responded to the building at the corner of and got the residents out.

Everyone escaped. Their pets, too.

The fire burned through the cold and the wind into Wednesday.

took up positions and pounded the blaze with water from top to bottom, to the sides and in front.

The crews protected nearby buildings, businesses and Hadley School.

Police and public works supported the effort.

No one was seriously injured.

When it was done, six business owners and 11 people had lost their places of business and their apartments.

But town officials led an immediate relief effort and townspeople responded.

The building owner is helping tenants find places to live and offering them first refusal to return when she rebuilds.

The town will host a meeting to advise business owners on how to recover losses, find temporary sites and finance new business operations.

Fire knocked out the gateway building in the old part of town last week but it didn't claim any lives and the response was solid.