Woman Found Dead After Inferno Tears Through Gated Apartment Complex on Long Island

VIDEO: A 71-year-old woman was found dead after a raging blaze gutted a private, gated apartment complex on Long Island Tuesday, authorities say. Homicide detectives responded to the fiery scene at the Fairfield Courtyard at Coram on Country Club Drive, but a preliminary investigation indicates no criminality was involved. Multiple fire departments were needed to extinguish the inferno, which broke out around 2:30 a.m. It was under control 90 minutes later. It appeared the fire was contained to one building, but the siding of a neighboring building was beginning to melt away, video from the scene showed. The woman who died, Susan Harelick, lived in one of the apartments in the burned building, authorities said. A cause of the fire wasn't clear.
WNBC-TV NBC New York

Two Syracuse firefighters injured after house fire

Two Syracuse firefighters suffered minor injuries after responding to a house fire. According to the Syracuse Fire Department, officials were dispatched to a structure fire at a home on Austin Avenue on Monday just before 6:00 p.m. Crews say they arrived to find smoke and fire on the first floor of the 2-story wood frame home. Syracuse fire crews were able to put the fire out within 10 minutes. According to the Syracuse Fire Department, two firefighters were treated for minor injuries. Fire investigators determined the cause of the fire was an unattended candle in a bathroom on the first floor of the home. The Red Cross is assisting those impacted by the fire.
WSTM-TV NBC3-CNY Central

Fire tears through Common Roots Brewing Company in South Glen Falls

Fire tore through Common Roots Brewing Co. on Monday night, destroying a large portion of the building hours after the owners broke ground for an expansion of the business. The blaze was reported around 7:15 p.m., and firefighters arrived to find flames coming through the roof on the northeast corner of the 58 Saratoga Ave. business, the area closest to the street and the neighboring apartment building at 56 Saratoga Ave. No injuries were reported, and the brewery had been open at the time the fire broke out. Firefighters from at least seven companies in Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties descended on the scene, using two ladder trucks to pour water on the building from above. But the stubborn fire spread throughout the front section of the business, damage heaviest where brewing equipment had been located. Parts of the roof collapsed and were consumed by fire, but a firewall kept the flames from spreading to the back half of the building.
Glens Falls Post-Star

Firefighters battle fire at plastics company in Richmondville

VIDEO: Crews responded to a fire at Remco Plastics in Richmondville Monday afternoon. Fire Chief Gary Rightmyer says the owner is a subcontractor who manufactures and molds small plastic products. When they initially arrived on the scene they were concerned about chemical exposure. Fortunately, firefighters were able to keep the fire contained to one side of the building and it did not reach those chemicals; however, the flames did destroy his main office and a lot of his shipping material. “The owner does plastic fabrications for companies so a lot of material and shipping material and some old machinery in there that he uses for fabrications” Because the roof of the building is concrete they weren’t able to drill a hole for ventilation which made their firefight a little more difficult. It took about an hour and a half to get the fire knocked down.
News10 ABC Albany

Bravest mark one-year anniversary of beloved firefighter’s death during plaque dedication at Harlem station

New York’s Bravest bowed their heads in silent reflection Saturday as they marked one year since the death of Firefighter Michael Davidson with a poignant plaque dedication at the Harlem firehouse he considered his second home. Scores of firefighters dabbed away tears as Davidson’s wife remembered meeting her future husband. “I think back to the beginning, to meeting him and looking into his eyes and seeing something so special, so deep, and so very real," Eileen Davidson told the overflow crowd at Engine 69 and Ladder 28 on W. 143rd St., where her husband served for 15 years. "I knew right away that this man was meant to be in my life forever.” “There was a light in this man, one that burned so bright that even if you only met him once, you remembered him," she said, looking at her four children Brooke, Joey, Emily and Amy. “I see Daddy in each of your smiles.”
NYDailyNews.com

Fierce Fire Leaves Over 100 Residents In Long Island Apartment Complex Homeless

Firefighters managed to get the massive fire under control Saturday night on Long Island, but more than 100 people are now homeless. Massive flames and thick smoke that tore through the homes at the Avalon Court Complex in Melville. Authorities say the blaze started around 6 p.m. and dozens of firefighters were forced to battle high winds while putting out the flames. The fire lasted for hours until things finally calmed down. A neighbor told CBS2’s Reena Roy more than a dozen apartments were badly affected, including her own, from the water used to stifle the fire. “I heard a lot of commotion outside, some yelling, I looked out the window, there was a fire truck, and I tried to figure out what to grab,” Barb Christe said. There were several minor injuries reported, but everyone from the Long Island complex is expected to recover. The big question for many residents now is: what happens next?
CBS New York

Flames shoot out roof as 4-alarm fire tears through Bronx laundromat, Domino’s

VIDEO: Firefighters battled a four-alarm fire that tore through a laundromat in the Bronx Friday. The flames broke out just before 1 p.m. at Express Laundry on Webster Avenue in the Fordham section. Footage from Citizen App showed heavy flames shooting from the roof, with firefighters also on the roof battling the intense blaze. Smoke billowed up into the sky and could be seen for miles. "The conditions on arrival were heavy smoke throughout the building," FDNY Chief Tom Richardson said. "The fire was located up in the ceiling area. We call it the cockloft. Extensive fire in the ceiling throughout the cockloft area, throughout the roof area, spreading into the Domino's Pizza." The fire involved an extensive roof collapse, and a neighboring Domino's was also destroyed after the flames spread.
WABC-TV 7online.com

Knife-Wielding Arsonist Shot By Police In Bayside, Cops Say

A Queens Village man who was shot by police Sunday afternoon has been charged with arson after lighting his car on fire and charging officers with a knife outside the Bayside police station, police said. Jarrell Davis, 33, was arrested at 2 a.m. Monday morning just hours after he was taken to New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital with gunshot wounds in his torso and leg. He had been shot by cops around 3 p.m. outside NYPD's 111th Precinct police station on 215th Street after running at officers with a 12-inch kitchen knife. Just moments before, Davis had lit his own car on fire after crashing it into one of the marked police SUVs outside the station. He had sprayed an accelerant on his own car and marked police cruisers before setting the blaze, Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said in a press conference later that afternoon.
Bayside-Douglaston Patch.com

Scipio fire department wins materials to bolster recruitment

The Scipio Volunteer Fire Department won promotional materials for an upcoming recruitment weekend. As one of more than 300 fire departments registered for the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York's RecruitNY weekend, Scipio was randomly selected to receive more than $1,000 worth of promotional materials for its April 28 open house, according to a news release. The Ultimate Recruitment Toolkit prize includes yard signs to display throughout the community, a banner for the front of the firehouse, printed resources, T-shirts for department members and a 20-foot inflatable air dancer to grab attention for the open house and future events.
Auburn Citizen

Whitesboro’s volunteer firefighter Brian McQueen continues to help firefighters with cancer

When volunteer firefighter Brian McQueen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma in 2013, he learned a hard truth: Cancer is an epidemic among firefighters. His way of dealing with that fact was to create a way to help other firefighters facing a cancer diagnosis by creating the organization Believe 271 Foundation in 2014. To date, the organization has assisted 63 firefighters. In addition, McQueen developed a two-hour Cancer in the Fire Service training and awareness program that he conducts throughout New York and nationally. With that program, McQueen has educated more than 6,270 firefighters and their families from across the country. The Whitesboro native’s mission is to get the message of occupational cancer out to as many families as possible, and he embeds his educational philosophy on occupational cancer throughout his training opportunities.
Utica Observer-Dispatch