Apartment building fire displaces residents
The Kingston Fire Department said an old light fixture was the source of a fire at an apartment building.
A fire that apparently started in a light fixture displaced residents of an apartment building on Brewster Street, according to Kingston Fire Department Chief Mark Brown.
Brown said firefighters were called to 9 Brewster St. at 12:02 p.m. Sunday, and later determined that an old light fixture in the ceiling had caught fire.
There were no injuries in the blaze, which firefighters were able to bring under control within 10 minutes, Brown said.
He said the fire damaged the ceiling, while other portions of the building suffered water damage. Brown said firefighters had to cut into the attic floor to ensure the flames had not spread beyond the fixture.
Brown said the utilities to the building had to be cut off and the apartment house will be posted as uninhabitable until repairs can be made to the wiring and several other code violations are corrected.
Brown said he was not sure how many residents live there, but the Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross later reported that it was assisting three adults who were displaced by the fire.
With temperatures in the teens, firefighters took extra precautions by calling in extra manpower and laying extra hose to avoid problems with freezing, Brown said.
Brown said the extra lines were not needed, as firefighters were able to douse the flames using the pump and tank on the engine.