NEW LEBANON VALLEY, NY  - On February 11th at 11:04 A.M., the Lebanon Valley Task Force was dispatched for a reported structure fire in the area of 897 Route 20. The caller reported that a house was on fire. The following fire departments were dispatched to the scene: Lebanon Valley, Red Rock, Tsatsawassa, Nassau, East Chatham, Canaan, Richmond out of Massachusetts, and the Chatham Rescue Squad.

Lebanon Valley Car 2 arrived on scene and had heavy smoke showing from the roadway and transmitted the working fire dispatch, retoning all departments. Command conducted a quick walk-around of the scene and had a two-story, wood-frame structure with an additional add-on to the structure with heavy smoke showing from all sides. Command also had a heavy fire condition on the second floor of the building.

Command notified the dispatcher that he was unsure if there was anyone inside of the structure at the time of the walk-around. The first arriving tanker on scene made their way up the driveway and firefighters began to deploy multiple hand lines to the front of the structure. Firefighters laid the supply line from the road to the top of the extremely long driveway to feed the scene.

Command notified the incoming unit that there was a water source across the street to begin a tanker relay. Firefighters made their way to the top of the driveway and attempted to make their way inside of the structure, but the floor inside the first floor was very soft as firefighters made their way inside. Firefighters conducted a quick look around of the first floor from what they could see from the doorway. Command notified all units that it was going to be a defensive operation due to the conditions of the floor inside the structure. As firefighters were setting up the portable ponds at the end of the driveway, heavy fire began to push from the 'Alpha' side of the structure and heavy, thick black smoke began to push from the second floor roof area, and heavy fire began to push from the back of the structure.

Firefighters deployed three blitz fires around the structure and multiple hand lines. As firefighters stacked up on the back door to attempt to make a push inside of the structure from the second floor, thick heavy black smoke began to push out of the glass doors and two large bangs inside of the structure rattled the windows. Firefighters backed up away from the doors and began to use a hand line to knock down some of the visible fire from the doorway. Heavy fire quickly began to push through the roof of the structure in the primary home and push out of the windows on the side of the structure. Conditions quickly began to change on the side of the structure where there was an addition added onto the home, and heavy fire began to travel throughout the ceiling of the structure.

As firefighters attempted to bring the fire under control, water supply issues kept hampering suppression efforts. Firefighters in the front of the structure began to pull away the wood siding on the home and utilized a master stream to begin to knock down the heavy fire condition on the first floor the structure. As additional resources began to arrive on scene firefighters that had been battling the fire took a break to get a bottle of water and change out their air bottles. As the additional firefighters began to focus their streams on the second floor of the structure in the primary house, heavy fire blew through the roof of the addition. Firefighters moved multiple master streams to the hillside on the structure and began to knock down the heavy fire in the roof area.

Firefighters continued for over six hours battling the fire. Firefighters had fire that had gotten trapped in between the primary roof of the structure and the new metal roof. Firefighters also had hidden fire throughout the structure from construction previously done to the home. Fire Investigators from Columbia County are conducting their investigation into the cause of the fire. No injuries were reported. Firefighters went back into service later that evening.