By Rich Larson, News Director
After a fire broke out Thursday afternoon in the kitchen of a restaurant in the front of the Archer house and quickly spread to the upper floors of the, crews of fire fighters worked into the night working to extinguish it. By 9pm, flames could be seen shooting from the roof of the downtown Northfield Landmark, erasing all hope that it would be spared major damage.
At about 4pm on Thursday a smoker in the kitchen of Smoqe House restaurant caught fire. The workers thought they had contained the fire, but in fact it had already spread to the second floor guest rooms directly above the restaurant, and then to the third floor.
The Northfield Fire Department responded quickly, but was soon asking for help from Fire Departments in Farmington, Lonsdale, Randolph and Lonsdale.
Through the night, crew after crew of fire fighters could be seen entering the 150 year old building carrying axes and picks, a sign that the fire was inside the walls and was not under control.
Todd Byhre, the COO of Rebound Enterprises, which is the company that owns and operates the Archer House, said that the crews were “chopping into walls and floors.” He said there would be very little left of the furnishings, and really the owners would have to completely rebuild.
