PHOTOS: What now is a park, 20 years ago was a row of buildings with businesses on the ground floor and apartments on the upper levels.
During the early hours of March 2, 2002, the north side of the 200 block of State Street was engulfed in fire presumably caused by a malfunctioning wood-burning boiler in the basement of one of the buildings.
According to a timeline in “Fire,” a special supplement to the Carthage Republican Tribune, the alarm went out at 5:30 a.m. that Saturday morning.
Then-Carthage Volunteer Fire Department Chief John J. Storms said he was up early preparing to go to the recreational vehicle show in Syracuse. He recalls he parked at the fire station which was then part of the village municipal building, 120 S. Mechanic St.
“When I saw the amount of smoke over State Street, I knew we were in for a long day,” the former chief said. “I was surprised how fast what was there got going. It went from bad to worse.”