A garage is a total loss after a blaze began in Berkshire. Crews arrived around 10:30 Monday morning at 12604 Route 38 for a fire started in the garage. The home owner wasn’t home when the fire started, but came home to find it. Firefighters put the fire out in about 25 minutes, just as it started spreading to the home. The house suffered extensive smoke and water damage. Crews shutdown a mile of Route 38 for a couple of hours. A neighboring home took on minimal damage. Fire departments from Berkshire, Newark Valley, Richford, Harford, Weltonville, Owego, Union, and West Corners all responded. It happened just hours after many of the same firefighters responded to an early morning structure fire in Newark Valley that demolished an entire house on Route 38B. That was caused by a chimney fire. The cause of the Berkshire fire is still under investigation. There were no reported injuries.
