Main Content

news

Watervliet Firefighters Battle A House Fire on 4th Avenue

avatar image
July 08, 2022 | NEW YORK JEFFREY BELSCHWINDER, Senior Correspondent
This article is a direct street report from our correspondent and has not been edited by the 1st Responder newsroom.

On July 8, 2022, at 5:11 PM, the City of Watervliet’s Fire Department along with the Watervliet Arsenal Fire Department, Green Island Fire Department and the City of Cohoes’s Fire Department was dispatch to a reported structure fire at 1427 4th Avenue with multiple calls stating the whole house is on fire and they don’t know if anyone is home.

Police units quickly arrived on scene and confirmed with the dispatcher that they had heavy smoke and fire showing from the front of the building. Before the dispatcher could notify the fire department units arrived on scene and immediately declared the signal thirty and units confirmed they had heavy fire and smoke showing from the front of the structure with smoke pushing from the second-floor area. Watervliet fire command requested a general recall for off-duty firefighters to return to the firehouse as did the Green Island and Cohoes Fire Department. Firefighters immediately deployed a inch and three-quarter hand line to the front of the building and began to make an aggressive push inside of the structure as they had heavy fire pushing out of the front of the structure towards them.

Additional firefighters immediately laddered the side of the building and firefighters made their way to the roof. With a heavy smoke condition on the second floor of the structure and in the attic area firefighters on the roof began to vent the structure. Firefighters quickly conducted a primary search of the building and discovered everybody was out of the structure. With temperatures hovering around 95°F with the heat index, firefighters quickly began to become exhausted. Firefighters from the mutual aid companies arrived on scene and began to pull apart portions of the porch to reveal hotspots.

Firefighters made their way to the second floor of the structure where they had heavy smoke pushing from the front of the house and fire coming from the siding around the windows. Firefighters took out the windows on the front of the structure allowing them easy access to the roof area above the porch. Firefighters made their way to the outside of the structure and began to pull the siding off of the building revealing a moderate fire condition.

Firefighters hoisted up a hand line and began to quickly knock down the remaining fire. Exhausted firefighters took a breather on the back of the apparatus on scene. Neighbors nearby donated water to the exhausted firefighters. Firefighters continued to overhaul the scene for an extended period of time. The high intensity heat from the fire caused a nearby vehicle to have damage to the paint, windows, and tire area. Due to the quick response of the fire department's, they prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the house.

The Watervliet Police Department is investigating the fire. No injuries have been reported. Firefighters went back into service later that evening.

avatar image
JEFFREY BELSCHWINDERSenior Correspondent

No information from the author.