By David Filkins
The Times-Union (Albany, NY)
SCHENECTADY, NY — A city firefighter broke her leg during an early morning fire on Albany Street. It was the second fire the department handled overnight.
The firefighters, whose name was not released, was operated on this morning for treatment of the injury she suffered in the 4 a.m. blaze at 933 Albany St., Deputy Chief Scott Doherty said.
At 9 p.m. Monday night, firefighters tackled another fire at 12 Grove Place. That fire left 22 people homeless.
Fighting the second fire proved difficult because the firefighters who battled the first blaze also battled the second blaze.
“We have a lot of tired firefighters this morning,” Doherty said.
The Albany Street fire was fully ablaze when firefighters arrived at the scene, and took about an hour to get under control. Doherty said the house had several apartments but only one was occupied. The four residents had evacuated the house by the time firefighters arrive, Doherty said.
The home received substantial damage to the ground floor and attic. A second home at 935 Albany St. also received minor damage.
Nearly two dozen residents — including 16 in one apartment — were displaced by Monday night’s larger fire that all but destroyed a two-family building and threatened to spread to neighboring structures.
Everyone was able to get out safely, but a number of firefighters who responded to the blaze nearly got caught inside when an explosion or dangerous condition called a “flashover” occurred, Fire Chief Robert Farstad said.
A flashover occurs when the air temperature reaches between 900 and 1,000, which is hot enough to ignite any gases that are in the air, Farstad said. The result is potentially deadly explosive conditions, he said.
Farstad said fire investigators were able to determine that 16 people were living on the first floor of the building and six on the second floor. When asked if that was legal, Farstad replied “I don’t know,” but added that city officials would be looking into the matter more.
First-floor tenant Leslie Pegragone said she was inside the building and heard someone knocking on the window. That’s when she saw flames coming up from the basement.
“I screamed ‘get out,’ ‘get out,’ and everyone rushed outside,” she said, noting that she lives in the four-bedroom apartment with her husband, her mother and father and 10 children — including several who were asleep at the time the fire broke out.
Fire officials said all 22 people were home at the time, and all have been accounted for.
For a while, firefighters also were concerned the fire might spread to neighboring homes on either side of the building because structures on either side were less than six feet apart.
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