COBLESKILL - Last Tuesday, a fire broke out near Downtown Cobleskill, engulfing the Colonial Court Motel.
The flames raged from 10 AM and into the day, drawing both the local fire and police departments to either fight the inferno or help direct traffic, shutting down a portion of the Route 145 thoroughfare.
As for the vacant motel itself, the flames saw to its destruction, as it was decided that anything the fire did not torch will have to be demolished. Luckily, preliminary reports suggest that the Colonial Diner did not suffer much damage, as the blaze was contained to the bigger structure.
Later on that same day, the Cobleskill Village Board held their monthly meeting, where Mayor RJ Freitag gave his sincere thanks to the first responders.
“The Village is going through a very interesting emergency today,” he said. “I’d really like to thank the fire and police departments for all of their hard work. They’ve been out there all day.”
He indicated that although the fire was quelled, there was still work to address at the fire site that may pertain to further investigation and information.
After giving his thoughts, the Board moved on to other news, such as consideration over a loan request from the rescue squad.
The attending representative noted that the squad has recently received a grant of $130,000 to aid in securing two heart defibrillators.
He explained that the defibrillators are needed for their classification as a rescue squad, but as the grant is done through reimbursing the purchase after it is made, the squad must go secure a loan from the Bank of Richmondville first.
In order to secure the money, the representative asked for the Village to put up an ambulance for collateral, specifically the 5091 that was valued at the time of purchase at $225,000.
Seeing as how the defibrillators were a requirement and the loan would likely be a short one, the Board took no issue with the request, passing a motion to approve the loan and provide the collateral.
