VIDEO: Two people were taken to the hospital after a house fire on the Northside of the City of Syracuse. Fire crews were sent to the 400 block of South Alvord Street just after 5:30 Sunday morning. Several neighbors called 911 to report the fire.
When firefighters got to the scene, they saw a significant fire on the second floor and found two victims. “One victim was on the ground outside of the house with significant burns. The second victim was trapped on the second-floor roof. We were able to quickly throw up a ladder and assist them down the roof,” Deputy Chief James Farewell said. The two people were taken to the hospital. One person for significant burns and the other for smoke inhalation. One dog also got out of the fire. No firefighters were injured.
Fire crews heard smoke detectors going off inside the house as they worked to put out the fire that started on the second floor. “Fire was blowing out of the second-floor window of the house,” Deputy Chief Farewell said. “There’s only about six feet in between houses. There was a very real possibility that the fire was going to extend to the second house.” The house next door has damage to its siding from the fire.
Deputy Chief Farewell emphasized the importance of appropriate staffing when it comes to fires like the one on South Alvord Street. “Luckily, we have the resources right now, the staffing to get here quickly with the appropriate number of people. Especially situations like this, when we pull up and we have victims. That automatically takes several firefighters to start treating those patients right off the bat. And those folks aren’t able to go right to work, extinguishing the fire and looking for other trapped people.” The cause of the fire is under investigation.
