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First Due Easter Morning Structure Fire
By CFD
April 5, 2015
Just before 4:30 AM on Easter Sunday, Croton's Bravest were dispatched to a reported structure fire on Croton Dam Road in the Town of Cortlandt. The initial dispatch assignment included a Full Department Response from Croton, as well as Tankers from neighboring Millwood and Yorktown.
While responding, units could see a fire from various parts of the Village. When Car 2081 (Chief Vlad) arrived, he confirmed a fully engulfed garage/warehouse type building on the Stokes-Greene Property. Engines 118 and 119 made their way up the hill to the fire scene, with Engine 119 laying out 400 feet of 5" supply hose. Engine 120 then finished this lay to the street, some 500 additional feet down the steep hill. Usnig portable ponds from T14 & T15, E120 drafted from them and sent water up to Engine 119, supplying both E118 and their own hand lines.
The crew of Engine 118 stretched a 2" attack line to the lower side of the structure, while Engine 119's crew simultaneously deployed two 2 1/2" lines. One of these was attached to a portable monitor, while the other used a gated "Y" to feed a smaller 1 3/4" line to extinguish multiple brush fires caused by the blaze. Once these were taken care of, the line was reassigned to the main fire.
Chief Vlad took the Command position, and assigned Car 2083 (AC Colombo) to Operations. Command requested one Engine and one Ladder company into Croton for coverage, followed by a request for one Engine (Montrose VA) to establish a fill site for Tankers on Blinn Road, and one additional Tanker (Continental Village). After a short time, the pond on Blinn Road became depleted, and re-fill operations commenced at a hydrant near Glendale Road.
The building collapsed into the foundation, and crews continued to douse the flames with water, and eventually switched over to a foam blanket to snuff our remaining flames and hot spots.
Roughly 40 volunteers from the Croton FD were on scene, and were assisted by another dozen or so from our Mutual Aid companies. The fire was out and units cleared the scene around 9:30 AM. The fire, deemed suspicious by Westchester County Police, remains under investigation. If anyone has any information, you can contact the Westchester County Police (anonymously if so desired) at 1-800-898-TIPS (8477).
