Over 70 firefighters fought the blaze (photo: Bob McCormick)
NEWBURGH – Five apartments were heavily damaged when a fast-moving
fire raged through an apartment dwelling at 746 Broadway in Newburgh.
The three-alarm fire brought out 32 Newburgh City firefighters as well
as 40 others from neighboring departments under mutual aid.
Newburgh Police officers helped rescue residents from the building at
3:45 a.m.
Officer Daniel O’Elicio went into the building, located an elderly
man and helped him to safety. Officer Mathew McAllister went to the rear
of the building and assisted residents who had climbed out second-story
windows and got to the group from a garage.
Sgt. Timothy Gliedman and Officer Charles Cruz located a woman leaning
out a second-floor window. She was unable to get out of her apartment
due to the fire on the first floor. The two officers helped her climb
out a window and caught her as she jumped from the second floor. Several
residents were taken to St. Luks’ Cornwall Hospital for treatment
of minor injuries.
One firefighter also sustained a minor injury but the 19 degree weather
made operations difficult as water froze rapidly and firefighters had
to contend with slippery conditions, said Newburgh City Fire Chief Terry
Ahlers.
The city’s west end firehouse remains closed for asbestos remediation
and the Company 3 truck remains at the public safety building until a
deal is finalized to temporarily house it at the Goodwill Fire Department
just over the city line in the Town of Newburgh.
Ahlers said with the Company Three truck being located on lower Broadway
doubled the three-minute response time the crew would normally take if
they were housed in their upper Broadway location.
