HUDSON – A fire alarm five minutes into Friday morning at a high-rise apartment building in the City of Hudson proved challenging for firefighters and sent a resident of one apartment to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
The fire started in a fifth-floor apartment at Bliss Towers, a nine-story building at 41 North 2nd Street.
The occupant of the apartment told 911 that the fire was going up the wall and across the ceiling.
Hudson’s fire department was quickly dispatched, and the first arriving Engine, 30-25, was forced to hook to a hydrant on 2nd Street, because the closer hydrant on State Street is out of service, according to Fire Chief Anthony DeMarco Jr. He credited the first-arriving engine’s driver with knowing about the hydrant situation in advance, for being able to get water to the building quickly.
Firefighters made their way to the fifth floor, encountering stairwell doors that would not unlock from the inside, causing them to be forced open.
Once opened, firefighters encountered heavy smoke conditions in the hallway and a working fire in apartment 508. The situation was relayed to Chief DeMarco who requested a second alarm be struck. That decision brought firefighters from Greenport and Catskill to the location to assist.
DeMarco said Hudson firefighters operating on the fifth floor hooked a hose up to the standpipe that was supplied with water from the first engine, entered the apartment, and knocked down the flames a few minutes later. Additional firefighters conducted searches on the sixth floor with negative results.
A fifth-floor resident was transported to the hospital by Greenport Rescue Squad members for treatment of smoke inhalation.
The residents of apartments 508, where the fire started, and 408, were displaced due to fire, smoke, and water damage. Chief DeMarco said that all of the departments that assisted were back in service at 1:17 Friday morning.
The Germantown, Athens, Claverack, Chatham, and Stotville fire departments were all standing by in their respective stations to provide assistance if necessary.
