On September 16, 2024, at 5:40 AM, the city of Troy‘s fire department was dispatched to the rear of 51 5th Avenue in the rear for a reported garage fire. Engine four, engine two, engine one, truck one, truck two, the rescue squad, medic four, and the battalion chief responded to the scene. The police department arrived on scene and notified the dispatcher that they had a working garage fire. The battalion chief arrived on scene and declared the signal thirty for a working structure fire. Engine four arrived on scene and deployed a garden lay off of the rig to the rear of the building and called for the hand line to be charged.

Additional units arrived on scene and made their way to the rear of the structure and as firefighters knocked down the fire condition on the exterior portion of the garage and a portion of the interior of the garage, they began to overhaul the scene. During overhaul it was noticed that this fire was not caused by natural causes and police begin to conductor investigation with the Troy Fire Department. Firefighters overhauled the scene; command requested an arson investigator from the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to the scene. No injuries were reported in the incident and the garage suffered damage to the door and inside of the structure.

Assistant Chief of Police Steven Barker confirms that detectives have been assigned to the arson investigation and are working alongside the fire investigators from the Troy Fire Department and New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control to solve the case. If anyone has any information on the fire, they are encouraged to contact Troy Police Department’s detective bureau at 518-270-4421.