Major fire tonight, multiple departments called to: 1257 highbridge rd ... looks to be the big white house behind cumby's - across from HighBridge Pizza

Hope everyone's ok.



Multiple Departments Called in for Rotterdam Fire

Posted: April 20, 2008 10:46 PM

NEWS10 has been following some developing news out of Schenectady County this Sunday night.

Rotterdam Police say a building at 1257 Highbridge Road went up in flames just after ten o'clock tonight. There's no word just yet on how serious the fire is, but it is known that multiple departments have been called in.

We do not know if there are any injuries at this time, but we do have a crew on the scene and will bring you the very latest, just as soon as we know more.

I never read anything about this in the Gazette. Wasn't it ever reported? Or wasn't it considered bad enough and not 'news worthy'?

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Rotterdam apartment fire leaves nine homeless
Monday, April 21, 2008
By Justin Mason (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


Photographer: Peter Barber
Sparks fly as firefighters open the roof with a chain saw in an apartment complex on High Bridge Road in Rotterdam Sunday.

ROTTERDAM — Nelson Travis grabbed a soot-stained picture frame and smudged its blackened center with his thumb to reveal the beaming smile of his 10-year-old son.
Beside him on the lawn at 1257 High Bridge Road stood an antique side table he had intended to restore and a pair of his son's Rotterdam Little League trophies, all darkened by the choking black smoke that filled his apartment late Sunday.
"This is pretty much what is left," said Travis, gesturing to a small cluster of furniture, pictures and keepsakes rescued from his badly damaged apartment. "And all this, I don't know if it can be salvaged."
Travis was among nine residents — including four young children — left homeless after an accidental fire ripped through the second floor of the four-unit apartment building. County fire investigators determined the blaze was touched off in a kitchen on the second floor and resulted from cooking.
Though the flames were knocked down about 15 minutes after firefighters arrived, the blaze completely destroyed one apartment and badly damaged another. County Fire Coordinator John Nuzback said fire spread from the kitchen and through the building's back porch by the time crews arrived.
"There was a pretty good volume of the fire when we got there," he said.
Though most of the damage was contained to the second floor, the first-floor apartments sustained both smoke and water damage. Nuzback said the building was considered uninhabitable and all four apartments were ordered vacated.
"It's salvageable, but they can't live there until it gets redone," he said Monday. "It's going to be a while before it's all cleaned up."

bunch of folks working there today.....