Gilboa Blaze Leaves Four Homeless

By Liz Page

GILBOA – A family of four, along with eight dogs, was left homeless Sunday night after fire destroyed the home they were living in on Lawrence Mountain Road in the town of Gilboa.

Stamford firefighters got the call just after 9 p.m. to respond to a fire on the roof and arrived to find smoke coming from the roof with fire in an upstairs room, according to Stamford Fire Chief Don VanEtten. "The fire was well advanced. Once it got through the roof it was hard for us to contain it and we had to abandon the interior attack and go to an exterior attack."

Four people and eight pets got out safely, said VanEtten.

By the time fire apparatus could establish a tanker shuttle for an ample water supply the fire had spread rapidly, engulfing the home.

The Red Cross was called in to help the family, who lost everything in the fire, said VanEtten.

"We are very sorry for the loss of the home and the family's belongings and we wish to thank all the mutual aid departments who responded," said VanEtten.

He called mutual aid immediately to Hobart, Jefferson and Grand Gorge to get tankers and manpower responding to the scene. Additional departments and tankers were called to the scene from Conesville, Bloomville, Davenport and Roxbury.

"Unfortunately, it's the challenge of fighting fires in a rural setting in the winter," said VanEtten. Two water sources were established and a tanker shuttle set up to provide water to the scene. "The home was located on a single lane road, which made it difficult for apparatus to maneuver. It all affects our ability to battle the fire."

VanEtten thanked the town of Gilboa Highway Department, who responded to help sand and salt when conditions got slippery. VanEtten also thanked the Delaware County Electric Cooperative (DCEC) crew who responded to shut down the electricity. The primary line had to be shut down, due to its proximity to the burning home. "They responded quickly and stayed to turn the main line back on once the threat from the burning home had passed. I really want to thank them for doing that, especially after many people in that area had been without electricity for a day or two. We felt bad that they had to shut the line down again. I truly appreciate those guys. They had been working two day straight to restore power."

Also responding were the Schoharie County FAST team, the Schoharie County Office of Emergency Management and Delaware County Emergency Management officials. The Schoharie County Ambulance also responded to assist. "We wish to thank all of them for responding as well.

"I really want to thank everyone for coming and assisting," said VanEtten.

Stamford was on the scene until 1:30 a.m. Monday and returned twice Monday for rekindles, with Jefferson assisting.

The fire came at the end of a busy weekend for many of the departments as a snow and ice storm caused trees and wires to come down over a wide area, resulting in numerous calls. Some areas were without power for a couple of days.