Nineteen homeless following fire in building listed as “vacant with no certificate of occupancy”
POUGHKEEPSIE – An early evening fire on Mansion Street in Poughkeepsie Saturday has displaced 19 residents.
According to Inspector Gary Beck Jr., city records show the building at 333 Mansion Street as “vacant with no certificate of occupancy on file.”
Fire Chief Mark Johnson said it appears that a refrigerator malfunction ignited the fire.
Poughkeepsie 911 received a 5:53 p.m. call reporting a fire at that location and firefighters were on scene within four minutes. They were met with flames flaring out from the rear of the third floor. Additional firefighters from the Arlington and Fairview fire departments arrived at the three-story house to assist. Once the firefighters searched the three apartments for occupants and found none, they focused on the fire. Poughkeepsie personnel stretched two hose lines up to the third floor, contained the flames to the kitchen and had the fire extinguished by 6:30 p.m.
The Red Cross was sending representatives to the scene to assist the displaced tenants.
The structure contains three apartments; one on each floor. Renee Kelly and her family had started moving into the top floor apartment earlier in the day and are now homeless. According to Kelly, she had noticed the kitchen light “flickering weird” and pointed it out to her daughter-in-law before going back downstairs to get more belongings. Standing out by the truck with her grandchildren she noticed smoke “pouring out of the top of the house” and called 911.
Central Hudson arrived to disconnect utility service to the address while Poughkeepsie building inspectors placed notices on the doors indicating that occupancy was prohibited.
No occupants or emergency responders were injured during the incident, according to Chief Johnson.
Records indicate that the building is owned by Luria Yehoshua of Spring Valley in Rockland County.
