Early Morning Fire Leaves Six Homeless
By Doug La Rocque and Steve Bradley
Flames broke out around 4 am on Tuesday morning, April 23 at the Cold Spring Road home of the Retell family. The Rensselaer County Bureau of Public Safety Director Jay Wilson tells The Eastwick Press all the residents made it out safely, although, sadly, the family dog died in the flames. Two members of the family were taken to an area hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
The home was fully engulfed in flames when first responders arrived, and the biggest obstacle that firefighters faced was a lack of water, with tankers from many area departments pressed into service. The narrowness of the dirt road also created the issue of getting tankers by other fire equipment parked along the way. A fire pond was set up at the Pittstown Fire Station, and water was pumped from the Tomhannock Reservoir as well. Water contained on the first apparatus to arrive was used to cool propane tanks attached to the house.
Another problem was getting power to the structure shut off. The residents had recently installed solar panels, and aerial lights set up by firefighters to illuminate the scene, can have the side effect of continuing to power the panels. Director Wilson says it’s an issue members of the area fire service are attempting to come up with answers to.
The cause of the fire is believed to be a pottery fire pit, used the previous evening on a porch that had just been constructed.
Although the residence is actually in the Town of Grafton, that was not discovered until many hours after the fire. The Pittstown-Grafton town line is in the proximity of the home, and is not easily accessible from Grafton. Cold Spring is only approachable off Tamarac Road in Pittstown.
Besides the Raymertown and Grafton Fire Departments, firefighters from Pittstown, Center Brunswick, Valley Falls, Spiegletown, Johnsonville, Hoosick and Mountain View responded. West Hoosick was on standby. Ambulances from Pittstown and the Mohawk Ambulance Service was also called to the scene.