On January 4th, 2026, in the City of Troy at 3:12AM, engine four responded to 6 102nd Street for a reported fire alarm activation. Engine four arrived on scene with heavy smoke showing from the structure and immediately transmitted the signal thirty for a working structure fire and requested the box to be transmitted. One minute later engine four’s captain transmitted the second alarm as they had a large commercial structure with heavy smoke showing from multiple sides of the structure and the roof.

Engine one, truck one, engine two, engine six, the rescue squad, medic four, medic three, truck two, truck one, the battalion chief, Watervliet Arsenal Fire Department, Green Island Fire Department, and City of Watervliet’s Fire Department responded to the scene. Engine four’s crew used the knox box key for the front door of the structure and was met with a heavy black smoke condition pushing from the structure. Engine four’s crew hit the fire hydrant on 2nd Avenue at the corner of 102nd Street and as firefighters were connecting to the hydrant heavy fire blew through the charlie and delta side of the structure closest to the playground. Firefighters on scene immediately began to deploy multiple hand lines. As they were doing so, multiple units quickly began to attempt to establish a water supply for the scene and set up the truck companies in strategic points around the building as the fire was well advanced before firefighters arrived on scene.

Firefighters began to search for a blue topped fire hydrant nearby but all they could locate were silver topped hydrants. The battalion chief began to conduct a quick walk around of the structure and officers on scene quickly began to give reports to the chief that they had heavy smoke showing from all sides of the structure and heavy fire on the Delta side of the structure with heavy fire pushing through the roof and multiple locations. The truck company that quickly set up on scene gave the Chief of report that he had heavy smoke and heavy fire pushing from around the air conditioner units from the roof. Command notified all units that this is going to be a defensive operation. As command was transmitting that across the radio multiple mutual aid units quickly began to arrive on scene. Firefighters from the Watervliet Arsenal Fire Department set up in the rear of the structure and began to deploy a supply line from the city of Watervliet's engine down Sixth Avenue to the nearest hydrant as they were in position in the rear of the building.

As firefighters quickly established water supplies the heavy fire condition continued to rapidly spread through the roof area of the structure and smoke conditions throughout the structure became worse. Firefighters from the truck companies began to go into master stream operations, hitting the heavy fire in the roof area. As firefighters continued to work truck one opened up their master streams, but firefighters ran into a water supply problem as the apparatus that can put up to 2,000 gallons per minute each from the truck companies unfortunately could not get the water supply necessary as the two truck companies were being fed off of the same water main which was only 8 inches in diameter. Unfortunately, the larger water main nearby did not have a fire hydrant on it.

Firefighters set up on the Delta side of the structure with multiple two-and-a-half-inch hand lines and began to put a significant amount of water into the area of the building that had the heaviest fire. As firefighters were doing so in the rear of the building heavy fire blew through the roof line in the rear of the building and out the back windows of the structure. Firefighters set up a master stream near the doorway and as they were doing so, foam insulation in the ceiling began to pour from the building on fire like a steady stream of burning gasoline. As firefighters continued to work, pump operators continued to request additional water and pressure to meet the heavy demand for water for the massive fire.

As firefighters were working in the front of the structure, heavy fire consumed a section of the building on the Alpha Delta corner of the structure and heavy fire blew out the one window and firefighters began to break out the windows on the front of the structure to gain access to the heavy fire condition. As they did so firefighters opened up a hand line driving back the heavy fire condition that had consumed the entire room. Firefighters in the truck company in the front of the building notified command that the fire in the original area of the building had fully blown through the roof and they had a roof collapse. As firefighters continued to work on seeing they faced significant water pressure problems in order to feed the three truck companies on scene.

Firefighters on the 102nd Street side of the building deployed multiple hand lines and 2 1/2-inch hand lines and began to take up a defensive operation on the Charlie bravo side of the building and began to vent the building as they had a significant amount of smoke that was being sucked back into the building through other windows. As firefighters were working heavy fire began to push from the roof on the other side of the building and the foam insulation in the roof began to pour down on fire through the drop ceilings into the offices rapidly igniting everything in the room. Each room this happened to heavy smoke began to push from the windows before the offices were consumed with fire.

As firefighters continued to work one of the air conditioner units collapsed through the roof of the structure sending a massive plume of black smoke into the morning sky. Firefighters in the truck company's buckets notified command that another major collapse had occurred and the center of the roof was intimate for collapse. At the 70-minute mark into the fire, firefighters had three master streams in full operation from three truck companies, a half a dozen hand lines in operation and multiple ground monitors in operation. As firefighters were working on the 102nd Street side of the structure, heavy fire pushed through the remaining portion of the structure and pushed out the side door of the structure and all of the windows.

Firefighters in the front of the structure continued to utilize multiple hand lines to knock down a large portion of the visible fire in the office from the windows. Heavy fire, heavy black smoke, and large amounts of embers filled the morning sky from the fire. Firefighters on scene also faced significant challenges as snow continued to fall in along with freezing cold temperatures allowed for water to quickly freeze up on the streets, in the parking lot, and on the firefighters. National grid secured the power to the building and part of the surrounding structures for safety reasons.

Firefighters continued to work until around 9:35 AM when a large majority of the heavy fire condition had been brought under control and firefighters were only searching for hotspots. Firefighters were able to switch to operations with one truck company and engine company on scene in full operation allowing for firefighters on scene to start to overhaul and place units back into service. Firefighters from the next shift began to show up on scene to relieve firefighters that had been battling the fire for over seven hours. The local 86 Troy firefighters union delivered hot coffee, donuts, and bananas to the scene for firefighters. Firefighters on scene continue to work until the late afternoon hours before going back into service.

Command requested the New York State Department of homeland securities office of fire prevention and controls fire investigators to the scene to assist in determining the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported on the fire ground. The fire appears to have had a significant head start before the fire alarm system notified the fire department of the fire condition inside of the building. At no time during the fire were firefighters able to hook up to a sprinkler system in the building as the building which was previously renovated did not have a sprinkler system. The Kathryn Allen building owned by Unity House of Troy was utilized for non-residential services for domestic and sexual violence services in the Capital Region. The cause of the fire remains under investigation at this time.