13 DISPLACED BY FIRE

Afternoon blaze damages Cohoes apartment house

COHOES, N.Y. >> More than a dozen people were forced from their homes Tuesday afternoon after fire caused significant damage to an apartment house on Saratoga Street.

City firefighters responded about 2 p.m. to 294 Saratoga St. for a reported structure fire and arrived to find heavy fire at the rear of the two-story house.

“Upon arrival, the fire had progressed pretty rapidly in the rear of the structure,” said Capt. Jim Fennen. “We attempted to extinguish what was going on in the rear of the structure and protect the exposures, and it eventually came down to exposure control first, before we got it extinguished from the outside.”

Fennen said city firefighters — with assistance from crews from Albany, Watervliet, the Watervliet Arsenal, Green Island and Boght Corners — battled the blaze for nearly four hours. Saratoga Street was closed to traffic between Main Street and Mohawk Street as firetrucks lined the block.

Fennen said eight people were living in the home, but five people in an adjacent home also had to be evacuated as firefighters fought to save it. Everyone got out safely, though, he said, an no injuries were reported.

“Our firefighters did an excellent job,” said Fennen. “We were squared away with the mutual-aid departments and with the agencies that did our backfill, we had a lot of help.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

PHOTOS BY SIDEWINDER PHOTOGRAPHY The bucket of a ladder truck is enveloped in smoke Tuesday afternoon as firefighters battle a house fire on Saratoga Street in Cohoes.

Firefighters keep a cautious eye on a neighboring building as they battle a house fire Tuesday afternoon on Saratoga Street in Cohoes.