PORT JERVIS, NY – Port Jervis Fire Department units, along with mutual aid department, responded just before 9:30 a.m. on July 23 to a fire in one of Port Jervis’ oldest structures.

An emergency call to Farnum House, 21 Ulster Street, came from an alarm monitoring company as a result of smoke in the rear hallways of the 1^st and 2^nd floors of the building.  The fire was quickly extinguished, and an investigation revealed that the fire did not originate as a result of a faulty condition in the building but rather from a nearby launch of fireworks.

Past Chief Joe Kowal, Sr., who was among firefighters on scene, said someone reported that kids were shooting off fireworks near the property’s outdoor park basketball courts. An investigation revealed that this was what caused the Farnum House structure fire. Nearby neighbors also reported hearing what they initially believed to be an explosion, but was found to be the sound of fireworks.

Upon removing ventilation equipment on the outside of the building, Kowal said investigators determined fireworks hit the building, melted a big hole in the siding, and began burning the wood siding underneath the outer layer of siding.

“It hit reached the wood frame which was bone dry, and the bricks. But there was not enough air for it to keep burning, “ Kowal said.

The Farnum House has a history dating back to the 1850s. It was constructed as a home for the Farnum Family soon after the Village of Port Jervis was formed, in 1853, and before Port Jervis became a city, in 1907. It was donated by the Farnum Family to the city in 1936 and has served many municipal purposes since then.