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Assistant Managing Editor EAST LONGMEADOW On Sept. 26 representatives of the Bluebird Estates retirement community hosted a luncheon at the Hampden Country Club where approximately 86 guests were treated to lunch, information on the retirement community and finally a tour of the 117,000 square foot complex. By the next morning the facility had burned to the ground. The owners of Bluebird Estates have not yet announced future plans for the property. East Longmeadow Fire Department Captain Paul Morrissette said, according to Department records, Fire Chief Bob Wallace was on the scene of the fire in five minutes. Response time for the first East Longmeadow engine was recorded at nine minutes. He said the call for mutual aid was immediate "as soon as the Chief was in his car. "It was a large fire, you could see it from the Chief's house, from everybody's house in town," Morrissette said. East Longmeadow Deputy Fire Chief Steve Rybecki, via cell phone from the scene, confirmed that the call reporting the fire at the Parker Street location came in around midnight. "There had to be at least 100 [firemen] here," he said of the response to the blaze. "We had aid from many, many towns." According to Rybecki, engines and personnel responded from the city of Springfield, the towns of Longmeadow, Wilbraham and Hampden and also from the towns of Shaker Pines and Somers in Connecticut. At 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, Rybecki said that a task force consisting of units from the Springfield, Holyoke and Agawam fire departments, along with members of the State Fire Marshall's Office were on scene. Rybecki could give no immediate cause for the blaze. He said the investigation was ongoing and that "it will take quite some time." A portion of Porter Road and Parker Street were cordoned off as firefighters hosed smoking debris and the small section still left standing. Rob Rainey of Holiday Retirement, Bluebird's parent company based in Oregon, said he received word of the situation in an e-mail around 5 a.m. PST. Colson and Colson's construction site manager Tarrell Michel was asleep on the property in a trailer when the fire broke out. In a released statement, Holiday Retirement expressed their disappointment: "The management of Holiday Retirement was shocked and saddened to learn of the fire that engulfed and destroyed our unoccupied, but soon-to-be completed retirement community, Bluebird Estates. We send our appreciation to all of the fire fighters responded to the blaze. Our sincere thanks go to the volunteer fire fighter injured battling the fire. Holiday Retirement and Colson & Colson Construction are cooperating fully with local and state officials in their investigation." Just 24 hours before, those same grounds were filled with construction workers and seniors touring the 130 unit complex, some of whom put down deposits on apartments yet to be built. East Longmeadow residents Merle and Dean Safford had been bursting with anticipation for the project's mid-February completion at the luncheon. The couple were a week from putting their house on the market. Merle suffered a heart attack a year ago and was looking forward to settling down at the independent complex where meals, housekeeping and transportation were to be provided. A day and a fire later and Merle said they were "just devastated. "A building that big does not spontaneously go up three stories, three wings at a time," she stated. "We got to get to the root of all of this. They got a lot of sign-ups. I hope that they don't abandon the project ... Thank God we hadn't sold our house." Bluebird Estates is one of 300 communities owned by Holiday Retirement, including Quail Run in Agawam. Sandra Broaderic brought her mother Mary Lopata to the luncheon to learn more about the complex. Lopata currently resides at Quail Run and put a deposit down in hopes of moving to Bluebird Estates to be closer to her son Dennis in Wilbraham. "[I] did not go on tour yesterday. I was going to call Don [Corriveau] this morning to set up an appointment when I heard the news," Lopata said, adding that she is not too concerned with getting a refund for her deposit at the moment. Reminder Publications was given a personal tour of the property on the day of the luncheon by Rental Manager Don Corriveau and his partner Bill Marley while plans for a chapel, a 35-slot carport, barber/beauty shop and theater room were revealed. Costs for the project ranged between $12-14 million. Studios came in seven different sizes, one bedrooms in 16 variations and two-bedrooms in six styles. "These guys did a first class job," Conservation Commission Chair George Kingston said. Kingston worked with Holiday representatives to make sure wetlands and a stream behind the facility were protected. "It worked out very good. They were accommodating and professional." Director of Rental Management for Holiday Kendra Tuma said that Holiday builds 16-20 retirement communities in a year, a span that also includes Canada. They currently have three retirement communities in construction and three slated for next year. Rainey said "as far as he understands" there were no gas or electric lines connected to Bluebird Estates as of yet and whether or not Holiday plans to rebuild the complex is not known at this time. Rybecki said on Thursday that it would take "a couple of days" to completely extinguish the fire. PRIME Editor Debbie Gardner and Reminder Assistant Editor Courtney Llewellyn contributed to this story. | ||||||
