Albany, NY - On January 28th at 1:19 A.M., City of Albany Fire Department's Engines 1, 7, 9, 2 and 10, along with Trucks 1 and 3, Rescue 1, the rescue squad, and battalion one were dispatched for an alarm of fire at 113 Sherman Street. The dispatcher stated that they were taking multiple calls on the fire, and the house was fully involved.

Engine 1 arrived on scene and immediately transmitted the Signal 30, as they had heavy fire pushing from all three floors. The battalion chief arrived on scene, assumed command and notified the dispatcher that they had heavy fire on all three floors and exposure issues on the 'Bravo' and 'Delta' sides of the structure.

As Engine 1's crew immediately deployed a two-and-a-half inch hand line down the block and to the front door of the house, Truck 3 and Engine 2 took the next street over and set up the truck company for aerial operations to the rear portion of the roof. Firefighters from Engine 1 walked up to the front door of the house and with a swift pull from their Halligan bar, removed the fully involved front door of the house and threw it into the street.

Engine 7 arrived on scene, established a water supply at the end of the street and began to supply Engine 1 with water. Truck 2 set up in the middle of the intersection and immediately went to the roof to start to vent the structure. Engine 1’s crew went inside the structure and heavy fire pushed over their heads as they started to drive the fire back.

Command was able to confirm that all of the occupants inside of the structure were evacuated and safe. Firefighters evacuated the building on the 'Delta' side of the structure as it was beginning to catch fire and dark yellow and brown smoke started to push from the cockloft area. Firefighters, EMS, and police on scene carried the individuals from the house up the street to an ambulance to keep them warm as they all were not wearing shoes.

As firefighters made their way up the stairs to the second floor they were able to quickly knock down a large amount of the heavy fire. Crews on the exterior of the structure began to cool down the front of the structure with a one-and-three-quarter inch hand line.

Firefighters made entry to the exposure structure and began to pull ceilings on the second floor to gain access to the fire that had spread from the adjacent structure. As crews knocked down all of the heavy fire inside of the main fire building, crews in the rear of the building made entry and began to assist the interior crews in pulling ceilings and conducting overhaul. Truck 2's crew was able to successfully vent the building and check the roof of the exposure building.

Firefighters successfully knocked down all of the heavy fire within 20 minutes of arriving on scene. Command placed the fire under control in 45 minutes. The building inspector for the city of Albany, Fire Investigators, National Grid, water department and code enforcement were all requested to the scene.

Fire Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire at this time. No injuries were reported. The Red Cross was contacted for all of the displaced occupants.