NEWBURGH – The results of a three-alarm fire on Wednesday night that killed a woman, caused serious injuries to another, and injured three first responders, are due in part to staffing cutbacks ordered by city leaders.
A fire at 68 Lander Street was reported at 10:48 p.m. on Wednesday. Within 60 seconds, three of Newburgh’s professional on-duty firefighters assigned to Ladder Truck 1 arrived on the scene along with the assistant chief in Car 4. The four firefighters encountered heavy flames on the first two floors of the three-story building.
“Without an immediate sufficient water source, the crew of Truck 1 entered the first floor to attempt to locate and rescue the trapped victims, but were impeded by heavy fire and were forced to retreat from the building,” said IAFF Local 589 President Nick Bedetti, who represents the city’s firefighters. Bedetti noted that while the first crew was in the building, a male victim jumped from the third-floor window and sustained broken bones in addition to the burns sustained while in the apartment. According to Firefighter Bedetti, witnesses also reported seeing a female victim at the 3rd-floor window, yelling for help. The firefighters from Truck 1 attempted to reach the victim with ladders from outside but were forced back due to the flames bursting out of the building.
Five minutes later, at 10:53 p.m. Engine 3 from the city’s West End station arrived, allowing for firefighting efforts to begin. With only six firefighters and an Assistant Chief on the scene, the fire continued to expand at a rapid pace, making rescue efforts almost impossible. It took an additional 11 minutes for neighboring fire departments to arrive to help battle the blaze.
With additional departments arriving, the fire on the first two floors was knocked down at 11:26 p.m. and firefighters once again attempted to reach the woman on the third floor. Their efforts were thwarted when they discovered that the staircase had burned away. “By the time crews were able to get to the female she had unfortunately succumbed to her injuries,” Bedetti said.
On January 15, 2022, Newburgh‘s City Manager, Todd Venning, announced the closure of Engine Company 1 at the Grand Street firehouse because, primarily due to layoffs in 2020 and injuries, fire department overtime costs were too high.
Engine Company 1 was closed on June 15, 2022. Bedetti, speaking on behalf of the firefighters saddened by the loss of the woman’s life, said, “The delayed arrival of Engine 3 meant that the fire had the opportunity to double in size six to eight times,” adding, “Had Engine 1 been in service and arrived in conjunction with Truck 1, fire suppression could have begun immediately.”
The union is attributing the death of Debra Benedict, the loss of several pets, and the injuries to Benedict’s son who jumped from the building, on the city administration. “It is our opinion that applying water immediately would have made an enormous difference in the outcome of this fire.
In total it took five companies from the City of Newburgh and eight mutual aid companies to bring this fire under control, and we are saddened by the loss of a woman’s life,” he said. “The firefighters on the scene did the best job that they could with the limited resources they had, unfortunately, it was not enough.”
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) is the worldwide leader that develops standards, including staffing levels to eliminate death and prevent other losses due to fire. The NFPA staffing recommendations for professional departments responding to a call are four firefighters on an engine and four firefighters on a ladder truck.
The City of Newburgh is well below the NFPA’s recommended guideline which says “Each company (engine or ladder) be staffed with four firefighters, including a company officer, and that the company officer must remain as part of the company; they can’t stay outside the building as a command. The standard further outlines that one firefighter will staff the pump, one firefighter will secure the water supply and two firefighters will advance the hose line.” To summarize the need for proper staffing, the NFPA says, “In a fire response, time is our enemy. The faster we can complete our fireground tasks, the faster we can provide a safer environment for ourselves and the community we’ve sworn to protect. The faster the fire goes out, the faster the danger to occupants goes away. The silver bullet to defeating the issue of time: We must sufficiently staff our engines so they can quickly and effectively accomplish their mission.”
City Manager Todd Venning and Mayor Torrance Harvey did not respond to a request from Mid-Hudson News seeking a response to the allegations from the firefighters. Instead of responding to specific questions, city officials released a statement late on Thursday. Most of the information released was already published.
City officials did, however, say, “The cause of the fire was determined to be a cooking oil fire that the occupant threw water onto and created a larger fire. Smoke detectors in the home did function, but the fire had already enveloped the stairway that people would have used to get out of the building.”
