ELLENVILLE – A fire minutes before midnight on Tuesday resulted in the death of one occupant and injury to two Ellenville Village Police officers.
Police Chief Philip Mattracion said one person escaped from the burning building at 3 Mountain Avenue, but one man was still inside on the second floor.
Officers ran into the residence and started to go upstairs but where turned back by the intense smoke and heat.
Ellenville firefighters arrived within minutes and were able to locate the victim inside a second-floor bedroom. Robert Paulsen, 60, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two officers were treated for smoke inhalation at Ellenville Regional Hospital.
Chief Mattracion said the residence had no functioning smoke detectors. “While the fire itself may still have occurred, the fact of the matter is that this man would still be alive if not for the failure to ensure the residence was equipped with smoke detectors that were fully operational,” he said,
The cause of the fire was determined to be accidental either electrical, an unextinguished candle or a cigarette, the chief said.
