SALT POINT – A Thursday night fire that destroyed a house on Route 82 required several fire departments to extinguish the flames.
Millbrook firefighters were dispatched to the scene just before 9 p.m. Upon arrival, the scene commander reported that a 50-foot-by-80-foot structure was engulfed in flames. Additional departments were summoned to the scene while others were relocated to provide coverage.
As the additional departments were being deployed, county dispatchers were fielding calls reporting that a woman at the location was repeatedly entering the burning building in search of family pets. Law enforcement was sent to the fire to prevent the homeowner from re-entering and risking injury. Two pets perished in the fire. A female resident is being treated at a local hospital.
Fire departments with tanker trucks were deployed to shuttle water to the fire engines at the scene. Millbrook Fire Chief Ted Bownas said that all of the responding units were cleared from the scene at approximately 5 a.m. on Friday.
Bownas described the situation by saying the fire was “well advanced on arrival, and extinguishment was hampered by lack of an adequate water source in the immediate vicinity.” The chief was appreciative of the efforts put forth by first responders, “I am thankful for my department’s response and all mutual aid personnel who assisted or were on standby.”
The Dutchess County Fire Investigation Division is examining the remains in an attempt to determine the cause and origin of the blaze.
