ORANGE — An unattended outdoor cooking fire led to a blaze that displaced five people and killed a dog at 236 Packard Road on Tuesday night.
Orange Fire Chief Tim Matthews said an investigation indicated the campfire spread to some dry leaves and engulfed a 10-by-10-foot shed before destroying an 864-square-foot split-level home, resulting in a $226,000 loss. He said the home did not have smoke alarms.
“Don’t leave cooking fires unattended,” Matthews said on Wednesday morning.
The chief said the Orange Fire Department received the call about the fire at 9:37 p.m. He said the five displaced people are all adults, and are staying with friends and family members. Athol Ambulance took one man to the hospital to be treated for minor smoke inhalation after being helped out of the home by an Orange police officer and a neighbor.
The blaze drew neighbors out of their homes to watch firefighters battle it. Matthews said his department had help from crews from Athol, Phillipston, Warwick, Wendell, Shutesbury, Erving, Gardner, New Salem and Greenfield. The State Fire Marshal’s Office also responded. The Turners Falls and Northfield fire departments provided station coverage while Orange personnel were busy on Packard Road.
Extended travel distances for first responders and a lack of fire hydrants made it challenging to establish an adequate water supply, according to a post on the Orange Fire Department’s Facebook page. Conditions deteriorated quickly during interior firefighting, and the crew was removed from the building.
As additional Orange and mutual aid tankers arrived, crews established a sustained water supply through a tanker shuttle operation using Tully Pond, less than a mile from the fire. North Quabbin Regional Animal Control removed the deceased dog, which Matthews said was 15 years old, from the home.
The chief also mentioned that he believes the structures were uninsured. With the fire destroying the roof and a large portion of the front exterior of the house, Matthews said, “I would call it a complete loss.”
One resident of the home on Packard Road was taken to Athol Hospital due to smoke inhalation, according to Orange Fire Chief Tim Matthews. 
At around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Orange Fire Department responded to a call for a fully involved structure fire on Packard Road in Orange. 
Firefighters from numerous communities responded to a house fire on Packard Road in Orange on Tuesday night. 
Fire trucks line Packard Road stretching to the house fire in Orange on Tuesday night.
