FISHKILL – The Rombout Fire Department responded to a reported porch fire at a residence on Van Wyck Lake Road Saturday evening that quickly turned into a 2-alarm structure fire.
The fire department was dispatched to 448 Van Wyck Lake Road shortly after 8:00 p.m. for the porch fire. When the first units arrived, they reported that the fire had spread to the house as well.
The house is located up a steep, narrow road, just east of the Sharpe Reservation. A 2nd alarm and request for tanker trucks to the scene was transmitted. As the fire raged,the arriving tankers from several departments were unable to get through the locked gate at Sharpe. The water trucks were re-routed back to the bottom of the mountain, near Route 9, to fill up and return to the fire.
Firefighters who were attempting to gain access to the house encountered “hoarding” conditions which made entry impossible.
Unable to fight the fire inside, a ladder truck from Fishkill was extended to dump thousands of gallons of water on the house from above. At the same time, first responders on the ground attacked the stubborn fire with hoses.
The occupants of the house had originally escaped unharmed but one female attempted to go back to the burning house to rescue pet cats and dogs. Her efforts resulted in injuries that required medics to take her to the hospital.
Firefighters from Dutchess, Putnam, and Orange Counties were expected to fight the inferno well into the night.
The Dutchess County Fire Investigation Division was summoned to the scene by fire officials. The cause of the fire is thought to be a faulty propane tank but the investigation is ongoing.
