Firefighters douse blaze at Holyoke mall

HOLYOKE — Firefighters worked into the early morning hours Wednesday to extinguish a fire on the roof of the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside.

The interior areas of the mall, including the food court, was closed Wednesday, though anchor stores and any retailers or venues with dedicated exterior entrances remained open and operating during their normal business hours, according to announcement by mall management.

The Holyoke Fire Department was alerted to the blaze Tuesday night at around 11 p.m. and responding crews were met with heavy fire coming from the ductwork on the roof close to the area of the Target Store and heavy smoke throughout the mall.

No injuries were reported and the cause was determined to be accidental caused by workers cutting the ductwork to clean and update it, according to the Holyoke Fire Department.

According to the fire department, crews made an “aggressive interior and exterior attack” coordinated by a deputy fire chief at the scene. The fire was difficult to extinguish as it extended through the ductwork from the food court in the basement to the roof, the department reported on its Facebook page.

As more manpower was needed, firefighters had to open up interior walls to fully extinguish the blaze, which was brought under control by 2 a.m. Mutual aid was brought in to the city to assist at the fire and cover the rest of the city and crews cleared the scene by 3 a.m.

The Holyoke Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, and Cataldo Ambulance assisted at the scene.

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