MENANDS, NY - On November 6th at 7:08 A.M., the Colonie Emergency Communications Center began receiving multiple calls for a reported structure fire at 412 Broadway, in the village of Menands. The Menands, Schuyler Heights, Shaker Road, West Albany and Watervliet Arsenal Fire Departments were immediately dispatched, along with Boght Community Fire Co. for the FAST and Latham FD for Truck 4. The caller reported that everyone was out of the house, but there were animals still trapped inside the home.

With thick, heavy black smoke visible from across the river in South Troy, the Menands fire chief transmitted the Signal 30 for a working structure fire and requested the Defreestville FD from Rensselaer County to standby in the Menands Fire Station. The chief arrived on scene and had heavy smoke pushing from every orifice of the home, and heavy fire pushing from the 'Bravo' side of the structure and also out of the rear. Barreling down Broadway with a full crew of firefighters, Rescue 6 arrived on scene and firefighters dismounted from the engine and quickly began to deploy multiple hand lines to the exterior portion of the structure.

Command was able to quickly determine that all residents inside the home were out, but there were still dogs trapped inside the home. The Watervliet Arsenal’s truck company came down around Rescue 6 and took up a position on the on-ramp to Route 378, giving them maximum reachability with their truck company to be able to get to the roof and second floor area.

Within minutes of the initial dispatch, firefighters from Shaker Road, West Albany and Schuyler Heights Fire Departments arrived on scene and firefighters ran to the front of the structure and began to mask up to make entry and begin to rescue the trapped animals. Firefighters grabbed additional hand lines, deployed them to the front door of the house, and forced their way inside the home where they were met with thick, heavy brown smoke that was banking down to the floor along with high heat temperatures.

Firefighters from the Watervliet Arsenal truck company made their way to the roof and began to conduct vertical ventilation, allowing for the super-heated toxic gases to escape through the vent hole. As firefighters made their way inside the home, they were able to quickly find the dogs on the first floor and began bringing them out one by one. As the dogs were being brought outside, firefighters ran across the lawn to the nearby Colonie EMS unit where EMTs began administering care and oxygen to the pets. As firefighters made their way upstairs, they encountered a heavy fire condition on the second floor and quickly began to make an aggressive interior attack, knocking down the fire.

The Latham FD arrived on scene along with the FAST from Boght. Firefighters immediately began to assist crews that were working inside the structure, making their way to the roof to assist with additional ventilation. Firefighters inside the building discovered additional animals, but unfortunately those animals did not survive.

Crews conducted overhaul of the badly damaged home and remained on scene for an extended period of time until the late hours of the morning. The Town of Colonie’s Fire Services arrived on scene and began to conduct their investigation into the incident.

A neighbor who walked down after seeing all the commotion got to witness first-hand the rescues of the animals and stated, “I am absolutely proud of my hometown heroes risking themselves to rescue the poor innocent dogs trapped inside of the home. I am very grateful to have these brave individuals living in my community.”