POUGHKEEPSIE – A Sunday afternoon fire at a rehab facility resulted in a Poughkeepsie firefighter being transported to the hospital for evaluation and treatment of injuries sustained in the fire-plagued facility. Sunday’s fire at the group home was the facility’s second one in approximately three months.
The City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department was dispatched to the stately building at 100 South Randolph Avenue on Sunday at just after 2:00 p.m. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered heavy smoke and the Arlington and Fairview Fire Departments were summoned to the 5,800-square-foot house that was built in 1864.
The building is owned by Rehabilitation Support Services of Altamont, New York.
Residents had evacuated the building and informed the first-arriving firefighters that one of the male residents was unaccounted for. Poughkeepsie firefighters immediately began searching for the man in the old mansion while the Arlington and Fairview Fire Departments responded to provide assistance. While searching, a Poughkeepsie firefighter sustained smoke inhalation. He was removed from the structure and treated by fellow firefighters before being transported by a Mobile Life ambulance to a hospital.
The search for the resident was negative. City police interviewed other residents and determined that the man was not present in the building when the fire broke out.
“The cause of the fire that appears to have started on the first floor is under investigation,” Poughkeepsie Fire Chief Joe Franco told Mid-Hudson News. Chief Franco noted that a portion of the building’s east side was still boarded up after the July fire.
Electricity to the building was terminated by a Central Hudson crew. After the fire was extinguished, a member of the city’s building department arrived and was prepared to deem the building “uninhabitable” until repair work is completed.
After the call was completed, Chief Franco said, “Right now my concern is my injured firefighter,” as he left for the hospital to check on him.
