Old-style construction hampered
firefighting efforts
(Orange and Rockland Fire Facebook)
WALDEN – A Walden firefighter was in a medically induced coma in the hospital after he collapsed during firefighting operations at the scene of a fire at 3 Orange Avenue in the village Saturday night.
The five-alarm blaze brought 10 fire departments and 100 firefighters to the scene from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
According to New York City Fire Wire, Firefighter Craig Buccieri, a retired FDNY fireman, collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at the scene, and was revived by medics en route to the hospital.
During the height of the fire, flames shot through the roof of the three-story
building that houses a restaurant on the street level and seven apartments
on the two floors above.
Fire Chief Frederick Williams said there was some difficulty in fighting the blaze that apparently started on the roof and extended to the cock loft below.
“Just because it is in older building, it’s plaster construction so it takes more to get through that to get to the fire because we really have no access to the roof. The fire was on the third floor, so that wore the guys out,” Williams said. “We were rotating crews out and also it was warm, so that wore that took a lot out of the guys also.”
The fire rekindled early Sunday afternoon resulting in two other firefighters sustaining minor injuries – one to his knee and the other to his ankle.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
