Fire Chief Paul Ethier said the building, located at 245 Basin Road, was "totaled" in the blaze, and most of the tools inside the structure were "at least damaged, if not totaled."
"When we got there, the building was fully involved," he said.
The shop shared the property with a detached house, which wasn't damaged in the blaze. Prior to the arrival of firefighters, homeowner Brian Connor and an unidentified neighbor living next door tried to put out the fire using two small fire extinguishers, Ethier said. He said it was the neighbor who discovered the woodworking shop was ablaze after smelling smoke in the area.
The fire was reported at about 12:30 a.m. Firefighters with the Stamford Volunteer Fire Company responded to the scene, as well as firefighters from the Clarksburg (Mass.) Volunteer Fire Company and the Readsboro Volunteer Fire Department. The last firefighters cleared the scene at approximately 2:23 a.m.
Ethier said they were able to knock down the fire pretty quickly, in about 10 to 15 minutes. They then moved inside the structure to make sure that any hot spots were dealt with and that the fire was completely out.
"Everything went pretty smoothly. We had a good water supply and plenty of people," he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it does appear to be accidental, he said.
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