At 2037 hours, Potsdam Fire was advised by radio of a possible structure fire at 7 Pine Street. Engine 49, operated by Fire Driver Dick Fenton, responded immediately. Arriving at 2040 hours, Fire Driver Fenton reported a working fire in a two story wood frame building. The building housed a printing and embroidery business and a union office on the first floor, and an apartment on the second floor. Fire was visible at the rear of the building and smoke was pushing out of the eaves. Rescue 14 and Tower 5 also responded and mutual aid was requested from Canton Fire and Norwood Fire. Firefighters advanced the hose to the second floor and began to knock down the fire. Tower 5 was placed to the roof for ventilation. Firefighters encountered several obstacles when making their attack. A pit bull resided on the second floor and was reluctant to exit and one of the occupants of the apartment arrived on scene and entered the burning building thinking his children were still inside. He passed several firefighters in full PPE on the stairs and was subsequently removed from the building and turned over to police who placed him under arrest for multiple charges. Additional mutual aid was requested from West Potsdam to the scene and West Stockholm was moved up to Potsdam Station to fill in. Firefighters were able to perform salvage operations in the printing business and the union office as most of the fire was confined to the second floor rear of the building. One firefighter was transported to Canton Potsdam Hospital with heat exhaustion. All units were back in service at 0106 hours.
