A mother was killed, a young boy was critically injured, and other victims jumped out of windows in a three-alarm fire that trapped multiple people in the City of Newburgh last night.
The City of Newburgh Fire Department was first dispatched to a three-story row house on fire at 68 Lander Street at approximately 11:00pm last night. The incident commander arrived to discover that all three floors were engulfed in flames with multiple occupants trapped inside. Some began leaping out of windows to save their lives. Unconfirmed reports allege that the building did not have fire escapes.
Multiple ambulances were dispatched to the scene from Mobile Life Support Services and the neighboring Town of Newburgh Volunteer Ambulance Corp.
The fire department’s incident commander transmitted a second alarm, followed shortly after by a third alarm. Pumpers from the Air National Guard Fire Department at Stewart Airport, as well as the Castle Point, Cronomer Valley, Good-Will, Middlehope, New Windsor and Orange Lake Fire Departments rushed to the scene. Ladder trucks from the West Point, Cornwall-on-Hudson, and Coldenham Fire Departments also scrambled to the scene.
Coldenham provided an additional pumper, along with a ladder truck from Cornwall, to cover all other calls in the City of Newburgh. The Vails Gate and Winona Lake Fire Departments were also called for ladder trucks, but were unable to assemble crews to respond.
The fire spread to cocklofts in neighboring dwellings at 64, 66, and 70 Lander Streets. Firefighters quickly opened up the roofs and prevented any further extension. Firefighters spent several hours getting the fire completely knocked down and overhauling the structures.
The Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office was called to the scene for the mother who perished. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
