KINDERHOOK, NY - On January 7th at 7:14 P.M., the Kinderhook Fire Department with the Kinderhook Task Force was dispatched for a reported structure fire at 5 Sunset Avenue, at Samascott Orchard. Kinderhook, Valatie, Niverville and Chatham Fire Departments, along with Claverack Fire Department with the FAST team, were immediately dispatched to the scene.

Kinderhook Car 1 requested the Stuyvesant Fire Department to the scene for a working structure fire. The chief arrived on scene with an extremely heavy fire condition in a 225-foot-long by 100-feet-wide commercial structure. Command requested Stockport Fire Department, West Ghent Fire Department for a tanker, Stottville Fire Department for their truck company, North Chatham Fire Department for a tanker to the scene, and the Valatie Rescue Squad to the scene. Command notified the dispatcher that he just had multiple large explosions from the building that sent hot embers into the night sky.

Firefighters arrived on scene, deployed a one-and-three-quarter-inch hand line and attempted to make an aggressive interior attack to try to knock down the heavy fire, but were quickly pushed back out of the building. Firefighters began to deploy additional hand lines from the rigs. With winds pushing around 45 mph, a significant amount of embers were being lifted up and landing in the nearby neighborhood, sparking numerous 911 calls. Valatie and Stottville Fire Department’s truck and ladder company arrived on scene and began to set up around the structure. Firefighters on their way into the scene secured a fire hydrant at the end of the street and began to lay in a significant amount of large diameter hose. As firefighters were doing so, another tanker in-bound to the scene continued to drop the rest of their hose bed to complete the tanker relay to supply both truck companies on scene. As firefighters from mutual aid companies arrived on scene in the rear of the structure, they placed themselves between the greenhouse and the heavily involved barn.

As more firefighters were responding to the scene, the chief started to redirect firefighters to check on houses where hot embers were beginning to land on the roof. With wind starting to go upward of 60 mph from the south, it caused a fire to quickly intensify on scene and rapidly spread throughout the structure, sending a massive amount of heavy fire into the night sky. As the building was raging on the south side, Stuyvesant and Niverville firefighters took up a position in the rear of the structure protecting the greenhouses to prevent fire from spreading to the greenhouses that supplies flowers to Samascott's store.

Firefighters began to experience water problems as they did not have enough water supply on scene to be able to quickly extinguish the fire. Firefighters began to lay in through a neighbor's yard and along the bike trail, cutting through the fences near the walkway into the farm. Firefighters had to lay over 1000-feet of large diameter hose to supply the apparatus in the rear of the building. As heavy fire blew throughout the front of the structure, firefighters turned the hoses onto the apparatus to begin to cool down paint and the ladder of the engine company as the rigs began to smoke.

Firefighters in the rear of the building conducting defensive operations began to have significant problems as a large propane tank and ammonia tank caught fire, sending firefighters back away from the incident. The propane tank began to violently off gas, sending a 30-foot fire tornado into the sky. Then, a massive stack of apple crates caught fire that sent flames over 110-feet into the air, blocking out Stottville’s truck company on scene. Firefighters in the rear of the building began to attempt to make a push into the building to knock down the heavy fire condition, and as they were doing so, the heavy wind that was feeding the fire quickly blacked out the scene with thick, heavy smoke and a significant amount of flying embers.

?Command requested Stuyvesant Falls to the scene, along with Schodack Landing Fire Department to stand by at the Stuyvesant Fire Department as they had all of their apparatus respond to the scene with a significant amount of manpower. Firefighters in the rear of the building began to make progress in darkening down the heavy fire condition. The truck companies in the front and side of the building continued utilizing master stream operations for an extended period of time in an attempt to bring the incident under control. Additional firefighters in the front of the building deployed one-and-three-quarter-inch hand lines and began knocking down a significant amount of the fire condition in the front of the building. Firefighters had to remain vigilant, as the winds that were feeding the fire would quickly pick back up and cause a significant amount of embers to spread across the fire grounds along with pieces of the building breaking off and becoming flying projectiles. As they were spraying water, firefighters would get hit with the mist from the hand lines and master streams and the water would freeze to them, adding to the challenges on scene.

Firefighters in the rear of the building that placed their apparatus between the greenhouses and the main barn were able to successfully stop the fire from spreading. Firefighters on the Bravo side of the structure were able to contain the fire to the main structure and prevent it from spreading to any of the nearby buildings. Firefighters remained on scene until the early hours of the morning, battling the fire and hitting hotspots and overhauling. Crews had an extensive amount of equipment to pick up, and did not go back in service until the early hours of the next morning.

The building was deemed a total loss. Fire investigators from Columbia County requested New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to the scene. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time.