POUGHKEEPSIE – A fire on Mansion Street Saturday afternoon ripped through one house and badly damaged a neighboring dwelling. The Poughkeepsie fire department arrived on the scene moments after being dispatched and found heavy fire and smoke in the first house. A request for neighboring departments was made to get the blaze under control.
A fire official at the scene indicated that the fire appears to have been burning for some time before 911 was notified.
Firefighters observed a garden hose in the yard of the neighboring house which may have been used by a resident to stop the fire from spreading before the fire department arrived.
As Poughkeepsie firefighters attempted to combat the fire in the first three-story structure, the fire jumped to the neighboring house and quickly spread to the upper floor of that dwelling.
No injuries were immediately reported at the scene, according to Poughkeepsie Fire Chief Joe Franco.
With the assistance of professional firefighters from the LaGrange, Arlington, and Fairview Fire Departments, along with volunteers from the Roosevelt and Union Vale departments, the blaze was brought under control in approximately 40 minutes.
Several other departments were placed on standby in the event they were needed at the scene, according to the Dutchess County Deputy Fire Coordinator at the scene.
As the fire was brought under control, Chief Franco deployed personnel to determine the number of occupants of the two dwellings that were displaced and prepared to contact the American Red Cross to arrange for the residents to receive aid.
Mid-Hudson News video of the fire scene as flames spread to the neighboring structure:
