Times Union
COLONIE, N.Y. — A paramedic, firefighter and teacher of fire safety, Dave Plouff has spent the majority of his life helping others.
But after his Watervliet home of 20 years was destroyed by a fire last month, he was just as lost as anyone else.
“I’ve never been on this side of the fence,” said the 62-year-old, who has worked as a Schuyler Heights volunteer firefighter for 45 years and part-time Colonie paramedic for 46 years. “I didn’t know where to start.”
What Plouff didn’t know is that the community he has served for nearly half a century wanted to give back.
Since the Dec. 18 fire, more than $50,000 has been raised for “Dave’s House Fire Fund.”
“It’s been overwhelming and rewarding to know that there are so many (thoughtful) people and well-wishers out there... I’m grateful and appreciative,” Plouff said.
About $49,000 was donated through a gofundme account, a fundraiser set up by Colonie EMS Benevolent Association Inc., and about $4,500 more was raised at a community breakfast hosted Sunday by the Schuyler Heights Fire District.
“Dave is probably one of the most kindhearted and caring people I’ve had the pleasure to know,” Danny Murdock, Plouff’s friend, said on the gofundme site. “He would go out of his way to help anyone that he knows.”
Plouff drove the CVS Good Samaritan van and has been thanked in Times Union letters to the editor several times for his work helping stranded motorists.
He works full time for Albany Medical Center Hospital as a senior health and safety technician teaching fire safety, guidelines he lived by. The lights and computer were off, the heat was never over 68 degrees, he didn’t own a portable heater and didn’t leave candles burning, he said.
The evening of the fire, Plouff was washing an ambulance at the end of his Colonie EMS shift when he heard the emergency call — smoke and fire reported in his neighborhood.
“I had a horrible, horrible feeling,” Plouff said.
On his way home, he got a call from his fire chief confirming it was Plouff’s home at 10 Grenada Terrace.
Initially, Plouff thought maybe something could be salvaged from the house, which had belonged to his grandparents.
“When I came down the hill and I could see the flames through the roof, I knew. I knew the answer right then and there. There was probably nothing going to be saved,” he said.
Everything he owned other than the EMS uniform on his back and anything in his vehicle was destroyed. Among his possessions was a collection of antique emergency medical service memorabilia he had collected and was going to donate to help start a national EMS museum in Massachusetts.
The fire’s cause will remain unknown until spring when crews can get into the basement, where it began, Plouff said. An electrical malfunction likely started it, he said. The walls of the house were knocked in. The remains of the residence are covered with ice and snow, inaccessible until after winter.
While sitting in the Colonie ambulance after watching his house burn, Plouff decided he wanted to do more to help others in the same situation. He plans to add information to his training such as precautions on what to do so you don’t lose everything in a fire. His advice will include saving photos and important documents off-site, for example in a cloud database, and keeping items such as your driver’s license on you at all times.
“All those little things that we just take for granted, it all gets erased relatively quickly,” he said.
Plouff’s insurance paid for him to stay in a hotel at first. He is now living in an apartment in Latham. He eventually plans to rebuild using the money from the fundraisers.
“The big thing is thanking everybody for their support,” he said. “I’m very humbled by everybody in the community.”
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