Cohoes cleaning up after fire
Cops charge city resident with arson
A city man who was trying to imitate the History Channel television series “Forged in Fire” was arrested Thursday night after he caused more than 20 buildings in downtown Cohoes to be affected by a huge fire.
John Gomes, 51, of Remsen Street, was charged with felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanor arson. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday night and was jailed on $15,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Cohoes Fire Chief Joseph Fahd said that the first blaze started just after 2 p.m. Thursday at 228 Remsen St. and eventually spread and affected more than 20 downtown buildings.
“My understanding is that [Gomes] had a big barrel and there’s a show ‘Forged in Fire,’ where they make swords and all this stuff and he was trying to heat up metals,” Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse said while assessing the damage on Remsen Street Friday morning. “[With] the wind being 30 miles per hour [last night] burning the barrel behind a house and the wind caught it, started the house on fire and the rest is history.”
Volunteers from the Northeastern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross provided immediate emergency aid to 18 people affected by the fire.
The Red Cross provided financial assistance for necessities such as shelter, food and clothing to 11 different families, consisting of 16 adults and two children, ages 1 and 10. Volunteers also offered emotional support, comfort kits containing personal care items, and stuffed animals for the children. At least one affected individual is eligible to receive veterans’ services. In the coming days, Red Cross staff and volunteers will remain available to help the families and others who were affected, a news release said.
In a Friday morning news release, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy issued a State of Emergency in the area surrounding Remsen Street, effective at 1 p.m. Friday and it will remain in effect until rescinded by a subsequent order.
“As the executive of Albany County, I, Daniel P. McCoy exercise the authority given me under §24 of the New York State Executive Law, to preserve the public safety and hereby render all required and available assistance vital to the security, well-being, and health of the citizens of Albany County,” said McCoy in the news release. “I further find that the public safety is imperiled by the fire affecting the downtown area in the City of Cohoes. I hereby direct all departments and agencies of Albany County to take whatever steps necessary to protect life and property, public infrastructure, and provide such emergency assistance deemed necessary.”
Morse also mentioned how several downtown businesses were affected by the fire in some way. Morse estimated that 10 to 12 businesses were affected Thursday night, including Smith’s Restaurant on Remsen Street, Yuan Sushi, Cohoes Carpet Warehouse, Rizzo’s House of Flowers, Metro PCS and Shelley’s Cut and Style hair salon.
“There’s some [buildings] that are completely destroyed, there’s others that are horribly wrecked and there’s some that are dealing with smoke and water, so overall there’s a lot of damage and there’s a lot of sadness and heartbreak,” said Morse. “There’s a whole bunch [of businesses] that have at least something or at least smoke, so there’s a lot of inconvenience for a lot of people.”
Morse said parts of Remsen Street up near Marra’s Pharmacy will remain closed in the near future.
“We were here this morning bright and early, sweeping the streets and picking up all the glass, trying to get it to some sense of a normal downtown,” Morse said.
Morse said the city is waiting for the fire department to release the three destroyed buildings so clean up efforts can begin. Morse said the sooner that happens, the better.
Although Marra’s Pharmacy, at 217 Remsen St., is located across the street from where the fires originated at 226 and 228 Remsen St., owner and Assemblyman John McDonald III, D-Cohoes, said that he was able to have regular business hours on Friday since his store has a back entrance.
Even though Marra’s Pharmacy building did not receive any extensive damage, McDonald did note how an inventory garage located across the street from his pharmacy was destroyed in the blaze.
“We had no damage in the building, but we totally lost our [inventory] garage directly across the street,” McDonald said from his pharmacy office Friday morning. “We probably had about $20,000 worth of inventory. Some fixtures and all of our medical and pharmacy records were secured there too, so right now I’m going through notifying all of the insurance companies and the appropriate state and federal agencies.”
McDonald also said he has already put in phone calls to the governor’s office and various state agencies for assistance.
On Friday, Governor Cuomo announced officials from the state division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, state Department of Environmental Conservation and state Department of Financial Services have been dispatched to assist the city of Cohoes. State officials were on scene Thursday and continue to coordinate with Cohoes officials as they continue response and recovery efforts.
“This devastating fire swept through the heart of the city of Cohoes, left a number of people homeless and crippled many businesses,” said Cuomo in a news release. “We will continue to support this community and offer any assistance we can to help the city and its residents recover.”
To assist residents and business owners, the Department of Financial Services will be dispatching a mobile response unit in the coming days to help with the insurance claim process. This unit will assist residents with navigating the claim process and help ensure they can begin to rebuild their lives as quickly as possible. The unit will be located at Remsen Street in the vicinity of the fire between at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday evening and will remain available through the weekend during the hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Since Thursday, 10 staff from the state Offices of Emergency Management and Fire Prevention and Control, including Assistant Commissioner Pat Rivers and State Fire Administrator Francis “Skip” Nerney, were dispatched to the scene of the fire and remain in communication with Cohoes officials. Eight State Fire investigators, two of whom are drone operators, are still on scene assisting Cohoes Police and Fire Departments with the ongoing fire investigation. Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos responded to the fire along with Emergency Management, Spills Response, Communication and water staff. The department closely monitored the surrounding area for impacts to the environment and to ensure drinking water sources were not impacted. Efforts were coordinated with local officials and other emergency responders and no adverse impacts to the environment were noted.
Morse also mentioned how city officials were soon going to announce some new economic development projects in the downtown area, but some of those projects are now affected by the blaze.
“We had people here that were doing some development that we were going to announce in the coming months, and unfortunately some of that got destroyed by the fire,” said Morse. “But we’re just going to keep working and work hard every day until [Remsen Street] is the best street in the Capital Region like we promised several years ago, and I’m confident that we’ll get there.”