VALLEY FALLS, NY - On January 7th at 12:43 A.M., the Hoosic Valley Fire Co., Pittstown Ambulance, Melrose Fire Department, and Schaghticoke Fire Department were dispatched for a reported structure fire. The caller stated there was a house on fire in the area of State Street and Poplar Avenue in the Village of Valley Falls. Hoosic Valley Car 1 called en route to the scene and the dispatcher notified them that they were taking multiple calls on the fire. The chief requested the second-alarm to be transmitted.

The chief arrived on scene, clarified the address as 268 Poplar Street and immediately assumed command after confirming to the dispatcher that he had a well-involved house fire. The second-alarm brought Speigletown Fire Department, Johnsonville Fire Department, Raymertown Fire Department, Buskirk Fire Department, and Pittstown Fire Department to the scene. A special request was placed for the Easton Fire Department to the scene with a tanker, and the Pleasantdale Fire Department to establish a water supply at the high school. The chief on scene was able to confirm that everybody was out of the structure and accounted for. The chief had a two-story wood-frame structure with no exposure issues and heavy fire pushing from the windows and roof. Command also requested the mayor of the village of Valley Falls to the scene, national grid for a power disconnect, fire investigators, and a salter to the scene due to slippery conditions from water supply operations.

Firefighters from the first-in engine deployed a one-and-three-quarter-inch hand line and began to knock down the heavy fire condition. The next engine company laid in a supply line from Route 67 down the roadway as firefighters on scene were establishing a water supply operation at the end of the roadway. The truck company from Speigletown arrived on scene and set up next to the structure. As additional firefighters arrived, they began deploying additional hand lines around the backside and Delta side of the structure and went to work knocking down the heavy fire condition.

As firefighters were working on scene, crews ran out of water from the engines on scene and mutual aid tankers began to arrive to supply the scene with water as quickly as possible. As soon as firefighters were able to resupply a significant amount of water for the scene, the Speigletown ladder company went into master stream operations for a short period of time, knocking down a large portion of the heavy fire condition. Firefighters on the backside of the structure began to pull apart the siding to be able to access the heavy fire condition that was deep inside of the home. As crews continued to work on the backside of the structure, firefighters made their way to the roof area via the ladder company on scene and began to create a hole in the side of the house where they could get the nozzle to reach the heavy fire in the cockloft.

The frigid temperatures on scene hovering around 3°F did not help firefighters, as everything that got wet or the overflow from the tanker operations turned everything into a sheet of ice, creating slip hazards for firefighters. Firefighters on scene had hot spots and fire conditions inside the home until the early hours of the morning. Fire investigators arrived on scene and began to conduct their investigation into what caused the fire. Due to the extensive damage to the home, an excavator was brought in to bring down the structure for safety reasons.

The Stillwater Fire Department, Center Brunswick Fire Department, Pleasantdale Fire Department, and Brunswick No.1 Fire Company provided cover companies for the mutual aid departments on scene of the working fire.

The cause of the fire has not been released publicly. The Village of Valley Falls closed their fire department at the end of 2020 due to a lack of funds and volunteers. The village has contracted with the Hoosic Valley Fire Company to provide fire services since the closure and has contracted ambulance services for basic life support only from the Pittstown Volunteer Ambulance Corp. The village of Valley Falls does not have an advanced life support for EMS services contract in place at this time with any of agencies in the area.