GREEN ISLAND, NY - On July 4th at 9:48 P.M., dispatchers in the Albany County Communication Center began to receive multiple calls for a working structure fire at 46 Paine Street in the village of Green Island. A Watervliet Police unit and a Green Island police unit arrived on scene and notified the dispatcher that they had a working structure fire with entrapment. The officers sprinted up the stairs with a neighbor right behind them where they had an elderly woman trapped on the second-floor. With heavy smoke and heat pushing down on the police officers, they began to drag the victim across the floor of the apartment to get her to the stairs. The Green Island, Watervliet, and Watervliet Arsenal Fire Departments were dispatched to the scene.

As firefighters were heading to the scene only a minute away, they had a significant glow in the sky and the fire was visible from River Street in the city of Troy. The first arriving engine on scene immediately transmitted the Signal 30 for a working structure fire with heavy fire blowing out of the rear of the building and heavy smoke pushing out the front door of the structure. One firefighter from the village of Green Island sprinted into the building and assisted the officers in getting the woman out of the building across the street. The other individual inside of the building escaped with smoke inhalation and was placed in a chair across the street. One of the children that was inside of the house learned from his parents to go across the street in case of an emergency and made it out safely.

As Watervliet firefighters arrived on scene they deployed their supply lines down the street and with assistance established a water supply on both ends of the street. Command requested the second-alarm to be transmitted as they had two additional houses catching fire on scene and two fire victims at 9:56 P.M. The second-alarm brings the city of Cohoes and the Troy Fire Department to the scene. While on scene, firefighters requested an ambulance for the burn victim and the Town of Colonie EMS took the call.

Firefighters deployed a one-and-three-quarter-inch hand line up the staircase where they had heavy smoke banked down to the floor, and extreme heat pushing down on them, but firefighters attempted to make an aggressive interior attack to drive the fire back. As heavy fire blew out the back of the building, firefighters continued to attempt to make an aggressive interior attack inside of the structure, and as they were doing so, heavy fire blew out the 'Delta' side of the building and started to heavily impinge on the adjacent structure and fire spread into the roof area of the building.

Firefighters deployed another hand line down the 'Delta' side of the structure and began to knock down the heavy fire condition pushing out the side of the structure onto the adjacent building. Firefighters deployed a master stream to the center of the roadway and began to set it up as heavy fire blew through the roof of the structure and began to push out the vent hole of the front of the building. Firefighters evacuated the structure as heavy fire consumed the second-floor. The second-alarm companies began to arrive on scene and grabbed hand lines off of the rigs and began to go into both adjacent structures and pull apart the ceilings to gain access to the fire that had made its way into the two adjacent structures. Firefighters on scene began to notice that they did not have enough water pressure coming out of the hydrants and requested the village to immediately increase pressure on the hydrant system.

Firefighters in the rear of the structure knocked down all of the visible fire on the exterior portion of the structure. Firefighters that exited the building set up the truck company in the front of the building and made their way inside of the bucket as heavy fire was blowing out of the front of the structure. A firefighter jumped on top of a nearby engine and began to utilize a deck gun and knock down a large portion of the fire in the front of the building. With firefighters in the adjacent structure making an aggressive stop on the fire spread, firefighters coming outside of the other fire buildings were able to get a bottle of water as temperatures were hovering around 84°F. Colonie EMS transported both patients on scene to the hospital with injuries from the fire. Firefighters on scene brought a cat outside that had smoke inhalation and a firefighter from another nearby fire department that lived in the area that was on scene assisted with applying oxygen to the family's pet.

As firefighters on scene opened up both master streams from the truck company, the fire quickly darkened down. Within a few minutes, firefighters had the heavy fire condition that was still inside of the second-floor under control. Firefighters working in the front of the structure had a significant portion of the front roof area fall to the sidewalk below. Firefighters in the rear of the building set up hand lines and continued to put water into the structure. Firefighters remained on scene in a defensive posture for an extended period of time until about 11:45 P.M. The heavy fire condition was brought under control about 30 minutes into the incident. A total of four buildings suffered fire damage. One of the fire victims was transported to the burn center for their injuries, but was released on July 10, 2024. The other victim was released the same day as the fire. One additional cat was located after the fire was brought under control. A total of three cats lost their lives due to the fire. Investigators on scene were able to determine that the cause of the fire was accidental. The house was torn down the next morning. No firefighters were injured on scene battling the fire. Firefighters went back into service just after 2:00 A.M.

The neighbor who has not been identified yet, as well as Green Island Police Officer Robert Piazza and Watervliet Police Sgt. Thomas Sczpanski, Watervliet Police Officer Eric Roy and Green Island Firefighter Michael Baker are credited with the rescue of the woman trapped on the second-floor. These individuals risked their lives to save another person's life without hesitation.