By Liz Page
HOBART – Fire destroyed a two and a half story home at 394 Main Street in the village of Hobart Tuesday afternoon, leaving an elderly woman homeless. Firefighters from numerous departments were called in to do battle on the blaze in hot temperatures.
Hobart and South Kortright were called at 12:54 p.m. to flames coming from the windows of a home owned by Karen Joy. Joy was away at the time of the fire, which was reported by Kenny Fuller, of KJBL radio. Fuller saw the smoke and turned around to investigate its source. He found flames coming from the windows of Joy's home and called 911.
Hobart Fire Chief Josh Mason called Stamford for a full response once it was confirmed a working structure fire, with flames from the windows. There were no injuries reported.
He said the Red Cross was called and the home has been razed. Joy lost everything in the fire. She has relatives nearby where she could stay, according to officials.
The fire had a big head start on firefighters and its cause is undetermined. Fire Coordinator Don VanEtten said the fire was believed to have started in the kitchen area at the rear of the home.
The fire was difficult to fight, due to the 90-plus degree heat index that require firefighters to rotate in an out and Mason said the metal roof over a shingle roof made it difficult to extinguish, because it was difficult to get to all the hot spots.
Brent Trimbell of Lasting Impressions Landscaping was nearby with an excavator and brought it in to help pull the building down so firefighters could get to the areas that were still burning and extinguish them completely.
Joy's home is an older home with a lot of partitions and balloon construction which allowed the fire to spread quickly, according to fire officials.
Water was shuttled by tanker as the village of Hobart was on a conserve water advisory, which took time to establish. There was a ready supply of water from the dam in the village.
It is estimated that 75 firefighters responded to the scene, including six fire coordinators, Headwaters EMS, AMR and the Hobart Emergency Squad along with state police and the state Department of Transportation which helped with traffic control with Route 10 shut down through the village of Hobart.
On the scene with Hobart were firefighters from South Kortright, Stamford, Bloomville, Delhi, Bovina, Andes, Grand Gorge and Roxbury. Departments from Margaretville, East Meredith and Schenevus were called in to standby.
Firefighters were on scene for six hours.
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