NORTH GREENBUSH, NY - On February 23rd at 9:07 A.M., the Defreestville FD, Wynantskill FD, Clinton Heights FD for the FAST, and North Greenbush Ambulance were dispatched for multiple calls reporting a structure fire. The caller reported that the porch was on fire. The North Greenbush Police Department's first arriving unit assisted in evacuating the structure next to the unit that was on fire. The chief from the Defreestville FD notified the dispatcher that he had a heavy black column of smoke showing in the distance and the chief requested the alarm to be re-transmitted as a working structure fire. Defreestville’s chief arrived on scene and had a two-and-a-half-story townhouse structure with exposure issues and heavy fire and smoke showing from the Delta side of the building, and requested the second-alarm to be transmitted. Within minutes of the initial dispatch, Engine 9-7 called en route to the scene. The chief on scene was able to confirm that everybody inside of the structure evacuated safely.

The Menands FD, Best Luther FD, East Greenbush FD, Mountain View FD, and City of Rensselaer FD were dispatched to the scene on the second-alarm. Within minutes, Engine 9-7 arrived on scene and firefighters immediately began to deploy multiple hand lines from the first due engine. Firefighters also connected to the nearby hydrant on scene, establishing a water supply. Firefighters were not able to make entry to the structure due to the heavily involved lightweight construction building that already had partial structural collapse. Firefighters utilized one hand line on the side of the building and a two-and-a-half-inch hand line in the front of the structure. As firefighters were working on scene to knock down the heavy fire condition on the Delta side of the structure, the first due truck company out of Wynantskill arrived on scene and began to set up in the front of the building.

Additional resources from mutual aid companies quickly began to arrive on scene and firefighters made their way into the neighboring house with multiple hand lines, as they had a heavy smoke condition pushing from the roof of the structure. At about 15 minutes into the incident, the roof of the structure on the main fire building collapsed into the main portion of the home and into the garage area. Firefighters from the city of Rensselaer set up in the roadway with their truck company and made their way to the roof to begin venting above the neighbor's townhouse, as they had smoke pushing from the eaves. Firefighters continued on the exterior portion of the structure to knock down the heavy fire condition, quickly changing the thick black column of smoke to gray and white.

As firefighters continued to work on the Delta side of the structure, the truck company was able to establish a water supply and went into master stream operations, knocking down a significant portion of the heavy fire in the roof area. As firefighters continued to work in the front of the structure, over 50 firefighters staged waiting to go to work. Firefighters inside of the secondary exposure townhouse deployed salvage tarps inside of the home as they began to pull apart the ceiling to get at the fire condition that had spread into the adjacent townhouse from the main fire building. As firefighters continued to work, police units on scene were able to successfully evacuate all of the residents in the townhouses around the main fire building, and were able to make sure that all of the residents pulled their vehicles out of their garages.

The West Albany FD from the Town of Colonie was placed in the Defreestville FD for a standby as firefighters were working on scene. Firefighters on the Delta side of the structure utilized a hand line to be able to make their way into an area where there was still a significant amount of fire and knocked it down. Firefighters utilized a K-12 to cut open the hood of the car in the garage to gain access to the battery, as the roof of the building had collapsed onto the vehicle. The truck company shut down their master stream operation and allowed for command and firefighters to get a better look at what they still had remaining. Command requested fire investigators and national grid to the scene.

The West Sand Lake FD was relocated to the Best Luther FD for a standby. Firefighters continued to work on scene for over three hours. No injuries were reported and all of the occupants in the main fire building were accounted for. Firefighters had the entire incident under control in less than 50 minutes due to their rapid response to the scene.

Firefighters worked on scene with the fire investigation team to assist with their needs and remained on scene for three hours conducting overhaul. At this time, no determination in regard to the cause of the fire has been released to the public.