ALBANY, NY - On January 30th at 11:11 P.M., the city of Albany's dispatch center began to take multiple calls for a reported structure fire at 300 Delaware Avenue. The caller reported the back building behind the restaurant to be on fire. Engine 9, Truck 4, Rescue 9, Engine 5, Truck 1, Mohawk Ambulance Service, and the battalion chief called en route to the scene. As Truck 4 pulled out of the station, they notified the dispatcher that they had smoke showing from the fire house.

Truck 4 arrived on scene and had a large garage behind the Delaware Avenue Restaurant heavily involved. Truck 4 transmitted the Signal 30 for a working structure fire and notified the dispatcher that it was going to be a defensive operation at that time. Engine 9 took the driveway and firefighters deployed multiple hand lines to the front of the structure as the pump operator set up the master stream. Firefighters laid in to the scene with a supply line to Truck 4 and Engine 9. Firefighters on scene began to conduct suppression efforts to knock down the heavy fire condition inside of the garage.

The battalion chief arrived on scene and Truck 4 turned over command to the battalion chief and gave him a full report on the incident. Command notified all fire units on scene that there was a potential hazard of solar panels on the roof. As firefighters were conducting suppression efforts, a significant portion of the Delta wall fractured and began to lean outward. Command set up a collapse zone around the garage, and firefighters continued to knock down the heavy fire condition with master streams and hand lines. The extremely cold temperatures hovering around 10°F created a very slippery scene, as everything the water touched instantly froze and turned to a sheet of ice.

Firefighters on scene continued for an extended period of time knocking down the heavy fire condition. After all of the heavy fire was knocked down, firefighters conducted extensive overhaul of the badly damaged building. Fire Investigators on scene began to conduct their investigation into what caused the fire. No injuries were reported, and the fire was placed under control in about one hour.