Family of Vernon Select Board member displaced after second-alarm blaze

No injuries were reported from the fire, though one occupant was checked by medical personnel and was believed to have been released.

A Thursday night house fire at 1605 Pond Road forced Vernon Select Board member James Jim Pinkerton, his wife, Gloria, their son and teenage granddaughter from the home they have lived in for more than 40 years. The cause of the fire had not been determined late Thursday, and the extent of the damage was still being assessed.

Emergency crews from Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were called in after the blaze was reported around 9:45 p.m. Heavy smoke and flames were seen at the rear of the residence, and firefighters quickly upgraded the incident to a second alarm.

Vernon Fire Chief Alex Dunklee said the first crews to arrive found intense fire in the back of the building and asked for additional help right away. Crews focused their attack on the rear portion of the house, but the structure’s design made the job harder because fire was able to move through connected roof spaces and spread toward the front half.

Pinkerton said he was upstairs with his family when he noticed smoke after going downstairs and entering the kitchen. He then warned the others and helped get everyone out safely. His son later went around the back of the house, saw how serious the situation was and placed the 911 call.

No injuries were reported from the fire, though one occupant was checked by medical personnel and was believed to have been released. The family’s two cats were still unaccounted for late Thursday.

Mutual aid departments responded from throughout the region, including Guilford, Putney, Westminster, Brattleboro, Rescue Inc., Dummerston and NewBrook in Vermont; Chesterfield, Winchester and Walpole in New Hampshire; and Northfield, Bernardston and Turners Falls in Massachusetts. Some of those companies also covered their home stations while the fire was being handled.

The American Red Cross was contacted to help with housing and other immediate needs. A GoFundMe page has also been set up to support the family, which lost most of its belongings and now faces temporary living costs, food, transportation, medication and document replacement expenses. The page says the family left with only the clothes they were wearing.

Support for the Pinkertons has also come from the Vernon Fire Association Inc., which voted to direct all net proceeds from its 2026 Annual Ham Supper and the Vernon Fire Department’s 75th anniversary celebration on Saturday evening, Nov. 14, to the family. Additional donations are being accepted through Venmo at @VernonFireAssociationInc.

The fundraiser notes the Pinkertons’ long history in Vernon. Gloria Pinkerton has long led the Vernon seniors and previously worked at the Brattleboro Retreat. Jim Pinkerton, a Navy veteran and former Vermont Yankee employee, serves on the Select Board, chairs the Vernon Planning Commission and chairs the Vermont State Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel as Vernon’s representative.