On January 4, 2025, at 8 PM, the city of Troy’s fire department was dispatched to 706 5th Avenue. The caller reported the bedroom on the second floor was on fire. Engine one, truck one, engine four, rescue squad, medic four, and the battalion chief responded to the scene. Truck two was out of service on a medical call but turned over the call to another paramedic rig from the city of Troy freeing them up.

Engine one arrived on scene with heavy fire showing from the alpha side of the two-story wood from structure and a heavy smoke condition beginning to push from the building and transmitted the signal thirty for a working structure fire. Firefighters from engine one deployed an inch and three-quarter hand line to the second floor and members of truck one immediately threw a ladder to the roof and began to vent the structure. The officer on engine one was able to confirm all of the occupants were out of the structure and two cats were still not accounted for. As firefighters hit the second floor with the hand line, they had a heavy fire condition that had begun to spread to the other portions of the house and firefighters had a significant amount of heat and smoke pushing down on them on the second floor.

Firefighters from engine four and the rescue squad established the water supply on scene to engine one. Firefighters notified the pump operator of engine one to charge the line and within seconds the heavy fire condition was darkened down and a significant amount of steam pushed out the front windows. Firefighters notified command that they had the fire knocked down and begin to conduct overhaul and search for the cats in the fire building. Firefighters on the roof notified command that there was only steam coming from the vent hole and firefighters on the second floor began to pull the ceiling as they had minor extension into the roof area.

Command requested the Red Cross to the scene, command advise that the secondary search of the structure for any remaining occupant was negative, and firefighters were unable to locate the cats inside of the structure. Firefighters deployed an additional inch and three-quarter hand line to the second floor to assist with overhauling and hitting hotspots. Firefighters remained on scene for an extended period of time, Fire Investigator’s continued to conduct their investigation into what caused the fire. At this time there was no determination publicly available of what caused the fire. No injuries were reported, and the fire department went back into service at a later time. Later on after the fire department had left the owner was able to locate the two missing cats a live.

The aggressive tactics of the Troy Fire Department’s firefighters was able to bring the incident under control within ten minutes of arriving on scene. The Troy Fire Department prides themselves on their aggressive tactics in keeping their city safe.