Fire Destroys Two Brookfield Homes

Fire Destroys Two Brookfield Homes

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It was a tough weekend in Brookfield, with separate fires destroying two residences, a historic frame home on Route 14 in East Brookfield on Friday, and a brand new house high on East Hill Sunday evening.

Greg Winnie lost his 1796 home in a midday fire on Friday that started in a shed, where he had been working on an old Ford pickup.

A strong south wind quickly pushed the fire through the three-bay shed and to the house.

Even a small sugarhouse, 100 feet or so north of the house was destroyed. Wind carried sparks from the back of the burning shed, to the sugarhouse, which Winnie had used to store hay for his beef cows.

"If it hadn’t been for the wind, we may have been able to save the house. As it was, we didn’t have a chance," commented firefighter Ed Koren this week.

Hidden from View

Nor did firefighters have a chance to combat the fire that destroyed the remote home of Jen and Jeff Donahue, located on top of East Hill, on the end of Gilbert Road.

According to Brookfield Fire Chief John Benson, the Donahues, who had built the home just last year, returned home Sunday evening to find the structure burned to the ground. Due to the home’s remote location, and snowy, misty conditions on Sunday, no one had spotted or reported the fire.

The Donahues called the Brookfield Fire Department, Benson said, and East Randolph and Randolph Center also responded.

However, no fire trucks, even those with tire chains, could climb the steep, slushy, and narrow drive to the Donahue home.

Firemen with flashlights hiked in, Benson said.

"There wasn’t anything left," he reported.

Benson said his best estimation, after talking to the Donahues, was that the fire had started by the woodstove or by a chimney fire. There was no suspicion of arson, he said. Benson said he was not sure if the house was insured.

Ed Koren was one of the firemen who climbed the 400-to-500-foot drive in the pitch-black night to the home. Standing before "the pile of burning house," with the Donahues, who have one small child and are expecting a new baby, was a heart rending experience, he said.

Fanned by Wind

The mood at Friday’s fire, which destroyed the oldest house in Brookfield, wasn’t any happier.

Greg Winnie, wearing the tan work clothes he had donned for his repair project that morning, watched the flames take everything he owned, despite the efforts of six fire departments. A steady stream of friends, family, and neighbors stopped by to give Winnie a hug. No one had much to say, but their deep concern was evident.

Winnie explained he had been operating a plasma cutter when he first noticed a small fire, near where he was working. The blaze quickly spread to more than his fire extinguisher could handle, so he ran to the house to call 911. By the time he emerged from the house, the long shed, with three vehicles in its three bays, was full of flames.

Still, never suspecting that the blaze would eventually consume his home, Winnie never tried to remove anything from the house.

"I had 20 minutes," he said sadly.

Nor did he try to back another vehicle, parked outside the house, away from the fire, until it was too late.

He did round up his dogs, however, and safely shut them up in a pickup truck nearby, Winnie said.

Fire Chief Benson said Brookfield firefighters were assisted by the three Randolph departments, Williamstown, and Barre.

When the first crew arrived, the little sugarhouse, furthest away from the original blaze, was already burning, Benson said. Winnie’s three-bay shed was already fully engulfed and the flames were pushing into the house at the attic level.

"The wind was the story," he said. "This time of year, you can get a day like that, with a strong wind out of the south, blowing straight up the valley. It took the fire from the shed through the house and to the barn."

Shortly after the first fire trucks arrived, the house was "one big ball of fire," Benson said.

Within an hour or so, only a few big vertical and horizontal framing timbers from the house remained; the shed was gone, revealing the blackened shells of the three vehicles that had been parked inside.

Winnie pointed out that a wooden post, five feet south of the shed was not even scorched. It was spared by the same south wind that took everything to the north.

Firefighters remained on scene until about 6 p.m., and had to return a few times later "to hit the hot spots on the little barn," Benson said.

Friday was a gloriously sunny and warm, late March day. Winnie wryly noted the incongruity of watching the destruction "on the most beautiful day of the year." He was also painfully aware that the fire was destroying the oldest framed building in town.

"That makes me feel worse," he said.

Winnie, who is staying down the road with his girlfriend Barbara Meaney, has indicated that he hopes to rebuild.

A work party is being organized for this weekend to repair the fencing for Winnie’s livestock. Call Bob Eddy, at 728-5402, for more information.

Winnie’s valley home was built in 1796 by Maj. Nathaniel Wheatley, and later became the home of the Nichols family. Look in next week’s Herald for a reprint of an essay, written in 1954 by Stephen Nichols, about the house’s history. Steve Nichols, who lived in the house for many years, died last year.

By Sandy Cooch