Schenectady
Fire News
Fire probes continue; Hamilton Hill blaze ‘intentional’
Aug 25
SCHENECTADY — Fire officials are still investigating two of three fires that kept crews hustling from early morning until the late evening Saturday, and consider one to have been set intentionally.
Deputy Chief Rod Rosate said investigators are still probing a fire that broke out on the third floor of a 19-unit apartment building on State Street around 9:30 p.m. The blaze set off the building’s sprinkler system and led to the evacuation of nearly two dozen people.
Rosate said there were three people in the apartment when the blaze started, but it was unclear if anyone was in the bedroom that caught fire.
Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading, but the building sustained significant smoke and water damage.
“We’re still interviewing people” he said Tuesday. “They’re still looking into it.”
Investigators have determined an earlier blaze on Van Voast Street in Hamilton Hill was deliberately set. Rosate said the fire appeared to start outside the vacant, boarded up home sometime before 3:10 a.m. Saturday.
“The only thing we know at this point is that it was intentionally set,” Rosate said.
But investigators have determined a fire that started about 13 hours later on 107 Front St. in the Stockade was accidental. Rosate said the homeowner was remodeling part of the structure and a floor sander apparently caught fire.
Flames broke out in the rear of the first floor and caused smoke damage to an adjacent building.
Another fire ignited in the Stockade late Monday evening. Rosate said an electrical malfunction apparently touched off the blaze at 134 North College St., causing moderate damage to the building.
He said the latest fire also remains under investigation. None of the fires are considered related.
