Quick Knock Down Saves Harper St. Apartment House

STAMFORD – Tenants from two of three apartments at 29 Harper Street in the village of Stamford are living elsewhere temporarily after fire damaged the apartment house they were living in Sunday night.

Stamford firefighters got the call at about 6 p.m. Sunday.

The cause of the fire  was determined to be electrical, according to Stamford Fire Chief Don VanEtten, who credits the first firefighter on scene, Cliff Mueller, with making a good knock down of the blaze with the dry chemical fire extinguisher he had in his car.

"That definitely saved us from having to spend the rest of the night fighting the fire and from extensive damage to the apartment house," said VanEtten. “Everyone evacuated safely.”

The fire was reported by one of the tenants, who said he kept smelling smoke and finally saw smoke coming from the roof of the home.

"When I heard that, I called in our mutual aid departments," said VanEtten.

"We were fortunate there was no extension and there was minimal fire, smoke and water damage."

New York State Electric and Gas was called in to disconnect the power to the apartment house and the village of Stamford Code Enforcement Officer notified.

One of the apartments was empty and three tenants in all had to find somewhere else to stay. "We called in the Red Cross, but the tenants all had somewhere else to stay. Three cats were not affected by the blaze, although two were loose and later accounted for."

Two firefighters received minor injuries, one from a cat and the other when the front steps collapsed.

Mutual aid at the scene was provided by Jefferson, Grand Gorge and Hobart fire departments with Marc Rossley from the Delaware County Emergency Services also responding, with at least 30 firefighters on the scene.