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GORDON DANIELS

Firefighters from Easthampton and Northampton gather Sunday after extinguishing a fire at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton. Four people were displaced.

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GORDON DANIELS

An unidentified firefighter removes a window frame to check if a fire had gotten into the walls of the house at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton which was damaged Sunday, displacing four people.

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GORDON DANIELS

Corinne M. Murray stands outside her house at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton which was damaged by fire Sunday. She and three others were displaced.

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GORDON DANIELS

Easthampton Fire Capt. Dennis Peck, right, and firefighter Greg Gagnon outside the house at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton which was damaged by fire Sunday. Four people were displaced.

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GORDON DANIELS

Easthampton Fire Chief David Mottor, from left, and captains Kevin Benson and Dennis Peck outside the house at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton which was damaged by fire Sunday. Four people were displaced.

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GORDON DANIELS

Corinne M. Murray talks with an unidentified man outside her house at 37 Pepin Ave. in Easthampton which was damaged by fire Sunday. She and three others were displaced.

EASTHAMPTON - Four people were displaced Sunday after a fire spread through a single-family home at 37 Pepin Ave. and caused an estimated $150,000 in damages, according to the Easthampton Fire Department. No one was injured.

The blaze broke out at around 9:20 a.m. Firefighters say the fire was caused by a pile of clothing that ignited in the basement of the home. The clothes had been stacked too close to a gas-fired, hot-water heater, according to Easthampton Fire Capt. Dennis Peck, who was at the scene.

"It ignited the floor and then the basement was on fire and then it went into the walls and the first floor," Peck said.

The home is owned by Corinne M. Murray. She, a man and two children escaped the fire. The Fire Department did not identify the other three people who were displaced.

The American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Action Team provided financial assistance for food and clothing. Peck estimated the structural damage at around $125,000 and another $25,000 for lost contents.

Easthampton firefighters found smoke coming from the home when they arrived and first entered the basement from the home's first- floor kitchen which was filling with smoke.

Peck said the basement was so full of smoke that firefighters used thermal imaging as they ran a hose down and battled the fire. "You couldn't see your hand in front of your face," he said. "We could hear the fire. We attacked what we could hear."

Peck said firefighters retreated from the basement when another firefighter on the first floor discovered that flames had spread in the walls and set a bedroom on fire behind him.

Without that communication, he said firefighters in the basement could have been in a difficult spot as there was only one way out of the basement. "We came right up," Peck said.

The fire was extinguished in about a half hour from other vantage points. Northampton firefighters assisted by ventilating the roof of the home with a chain saw. The Holyoke, Westhampton and Southampton fire departments also responded.

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.