The massive blaze that caused over $150,000 in damage at the Aspen Chase apartment complex last week was caused by a faulty electrical socket, according to a statement released by the Amherst Fire Department (AFD) yesterday.

An electrical socket in apartment unit 15 sparked the fire, which spread to other combustibles in the room and throughout the apartment, breaking through windows and igniting the outside of neighboring apartments.

Apartment unit 15 was destroyed by the fire, and seven other units suffered varying degrees of water and smoke damage. All eight units are currently uninhabitable.

At 11:54 a.m. the Amherst Emergency Communications Center dispatched firefighters to Aspen Chase after receiving a 9-1-1 cell phone call reporting the fire.

Firefighters arriving on the scene observed heavy smoke emitting from the second story of the building, housing apartment units nine through 16.

A second alarm was ordered at 12:02 p.m. recalling all of Amherst’s off-duty career firefighters to the scene after the fire had spread up to the roof of the structure. Assisting fire crews from Belchertown, Hadley, Northampton, and South Hadley were also called to the scene. A total of 46 Amherst firefighters with six fire engines and three ambulances responded to the May 3rd fire.

There were no civilian injuries, but two firefighters and one police officer suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation and dehydration, and were treated at the scene, according to the AFD press release.

The Red Cross is in the process of relocating several of the residents of the building who were without insurance and lost all of their belongings in the fire.