Bank plans to rebuild Wilton office
Building destroyed by fire Tuesday
WILTON, N.Y. >> State fire officials sifted through the rubble Wednesday of an Adirondack Trust Company branch office totally destroyed by a fast-moving, intense blaze during the height of Winter Storm Stella on Tuesday.
The bank, near the intersection of Route 9 and Northern Pines Road in Wilton, closed early at 1 p.m. because of the storm and no employees were present.
It’s believed the fire, reported at about 2:16 p.m., started in the woodframe attic and was electrical in nature, possibly from a heating unit.
“I think it had a head start,” Greenfield Fire Chief Justin Burwell said. “When it broke through the roof, with high winds it just took off. Within 10 to 15 minutes the roof started collapsing in on itself. We have no reason to believe it was anything suspicious.”
All four Greenfield fire companies responded along with Saratoga Springs, Wilton, Gansevoort and Corinth. More than 75 firefighters were on the scene, while departments in Schuylerville and Rock City Falls were on standby, Burwell said. No firefighters were injured. “These people deserve medals, all of them, for the conditions they had to fight that fire in,” said Charles Wait, Adirondack Trust chairman. “They did an unbelievable job.”
Winds topped 30 mph at times, creating all kinds of difficulties in the driving snow.
“It was brutal,” Burwell said. “We kept moving people in and out to prevent exposure. Fortunately there’s a Stewart’s next door. They let us come in to get out of the cold.”
Greenfield’s ladder truck poured water on the building from the Route 9 side of the site. A Saratoga Springs ladder truck did the same from nearby Davidson Drive, off Northern Pines Road.
A hydrant on Davidson Drive provided some water. A tanker shuttle was set up along Route 9, Burwell said.
All that’s standing now are the building’s charred brick walls. Even a metal roof over the drive-through came down.
The building was constructed in
February 1991. The bank, on its website, says plans call for rebuilding at the same location as soon as possible.
A Greenfield Center volunteer fireman, employed by King Enteprises, noticed smoke coming from the bank while plowing its parking lot, Burwell said.
The building was equipped with active smoke and fire sensors, which signalled trouble to the company’s downtown headquarters at about the same time smoke was noticed by the snowplow driver, Wait said.
Burwell said many volunteer firefighters were home because their work places had closed, too.
But conditions and the fire’s fast-moving nature made saving the building virtually impossible.
Firefighters were on the scene until about 10 p.m.
It was the second major setback Adirondack Trust has suffered recently. On Saturday, March 4, an armed robber made off with money from the company’s bank at 162 Northline Road in Saratoga Springs, just off Route 50, near Ballston Spa. Police are still searching for the robber.
Wait said a “modest amount” of currency was in the Wilton bank’s vault and wasn’t damaged by fire.
All transactions, including ATM activity, had already been transmitted electronically to the bank’s headquarters in downtown Saratoga Springs, so this wasn’t lost, he said.
The branch employed six people who are being reassigned to other locations. Lynette Matt, the branch manager, will be joining the staff temporarily at Adirondack Trust’s branch near Exit 15, on Route 50. To assist customers, this bank’s hours have temporarily been extended to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (drive-through) and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (lobby), Monday through Friday.
Answers to questions about other banking activities, such as safe deposit boxes, is available at the company’s website adirondacktrust.com.