Investigators have yet to name the cause of fire which broke out at 170 River Road on Saturday night.
West Springfield, 5/1/11, Staff Photto by David Molnar -- The West Springfield Fire Department and the State Fire Marshall on the scene of a fatal fire on river St.WEST SPRINGFIELD – Fire officials have identified the man who lost his life in an apartment complex fire on River Street Saturday night as 27-year-old Mikhail Kaprynin.
Investigators have yet to name the cause of the blaze which left 23 families without a home. It broke out at 170 River St., shortly before 11:30 p.m.
Fire Chief William Flaherty said the victim helped his wife out of the apartment and then, for some unknown reason, ran back into the burning building.
Flaherty said many people don’t realize just how quickly a fire can spread. “Once you are out you want to stay out,” he said.
Kaprynin lived with his wife in Apt. 5 which was on the building’s third floor. Flaherty said the fire started in a bedroom in the second floor apartment immediately below.
A woman who lived in that bedroom was taken to a hospital where she was treated for smoke inhalation.
It took firefighters more than ten hours to put out the blaze and Flaherty said the complex is a total loss.
The deadly fire is part of an unusually busy stretch of fires for Western Massachusetts that is quickly exhausting the resources of the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter.
Paige Thayer, deputy director of chapter support, said the cost of providing local disaster relief for the River Street fire alone, which took a man’s life, will exceed $23,000.
Thayer said the 36 people who were displaced have been provided with relief services, including food, shelter and clothing assistance.The chapter, which provides coverage in the Pioneer Valley from the Connecticut state line to the Vermont state line, is on track to exceed the $125,000 budgeted this fiscal year for local disaster relief, Thayer said.
The chapter has provided food and clothing, meanwhile, to two families who were displaced by a fire that broke out in a home early Tuesday morning at 493 King’s Highway. No injuries were reported in that blaze.
The following are ways to help Western Massachusetts’ American Red Cross Chapters. Donations should be designated for local disaster relief. Pioneer Valley Chapter, 506 Cottage St., Springfield, 01104. Phone is (413) 737-4306.
Donations can also be made online at www.redcrosspioneervalley.org.
Also: Greater Westfield Chapter, 48, Broad St., Westfield, 01085. Phone is (413) 562-9684. Donations can be made online at www.redcrossgreaterwestfield.org.