House Fire In West Potsdam

In the early morning hours of January 10, 2006 Saint Lawrence County Central dispatch received a cell 911 call reporting a house fire at 352 Barker Road Town of Potsdam. Initial reports were that someone was possibly still inside the structure. At 01:40 Central dispatch toned out Potsdam and West Potsdam fire departments for the call. Engine-119 responded from West Potsdam and Engine 80 out of Potsdam. Potsdam Assistant Chief Tim Jerome arrived on scene and reported a working fire and that every one was out of the structure. This bought a big feeling of relief from all responding units. Tankers were requested from Norwood and Madrid fire to the scene. E-119 arrived and set up as the attack engine. Porta tanks were set up and lines were stretched to attack the fire. Firefighters found heavy fire in the crawl space and basement area of the structure with extension to the main floor. A crew led by Lt Perry attempted access through the front door on side A. His crew encountered extremely high heat and heavy smoke conditions and noted that the floor was getting spongy. Moments after his crew left the building the floor in the laundry room collapsed into the basement. A second crew led by Capt. Mike Corbett entered through a rear door on side B of the structure where they also encountered extremely high heat and heavy smoke conditions. Due to the heavy fire conditions in the basement/ crawl space area, and the integrity of the floors operations on the main floor were limited. Access to the basement was gained through a hatch door on side D and the fire in the basement was knocked down. A 2.5" line was then used to knock the heavy fire conditions on the main floor. Interior operations were then resumed on a limited basis.
Two fill sites were established to fill tankers. Engine 111 was at the Hewittville bridge, and E-76 was at Flat Rock Road. Additional tankers were requested from Hannawa Falls and Parishville. Hannawa also stood by at Potsdam station with a pumper and Morley fire stood by at West Potsdam. One minor injury occurred when a West Potsdam firefighter slipped on the ice. St Lawrence County Fire Investigation team was requested to the scene and Cars 18, 22 and 36 responded. It was determined that the fire originated in the crawl space and was caused by the homeowner soldering pipes for a new heating system. All departments were back in service at 08:00 am.