Woman rescued from Schenectady fire dies

The woman pulled from a fire last week on Stanley Street has died, fire officials confirmed Tuesday.

Fire investigators also confirmed the cause was accidental, traced to the home’s basement boiler.

The woman who died on Friday was identified as Sharon Edwards, who had 23 grandchildren. One of her children remembered her Tuesday as a giving woman who worked hard to raise her children right.

Edwards passed away Friday at Albany Medical Center. She had been taken there by helicopter after she was rescued from the house by firefighters.

The cause of the fire was determined after a methodical effort by Schenectady fire investigators, with help from state and federal authorities, Capt. Doug Faulisi of the Schenectady Fire Department said.

Investigators pulled apart the remains of the house to rule out any evidence of arson and eliminated all but one possible accidental cause, Faulisi said.

They traced the fire to the basement boiler area. Combustibles had been stored near the boiler, Faulisi said. He said they could not determine whether the fire started from a boiler malfunction or because the combustibles were too close to the boiler.

The fire burned at least 20 minutes before it was discovered, working its way from the basement through the walls to the attic. It bypassed the living area, allowing it to burn unnoticed for longer.

“They were basically inside a house that was on fire below them and above them,” Faulisi said. “It took a while before it was detected by anybody.”

Helping the fire move was the home’s “balloon” construction, common in many homes built around its time, Faulisi said.

Surviving the fire was Edwards’ 34-year-old daughter, Tamica Sawenko, and her 4-year-old son, Noah. Family members confirmed their names Tuesday.

The daughter told fire investigators they were awakened by a loud bang, believed to have been caused by the raging fire, Faulisi said.

Heat and smoke quickly forced them from the home’s second story onto the second-floor porch. From there, the mother and child jumped. Both were treated at a hospital and released.

It took firefighters only 31⁄2 minutes to get to the blaze once word came in. Among the first calls was the report that the mother and child had jumped.

Once on the scene, firefighters set out to find the grandmother.

Edwards was found on the second-floor landing. She lived on the first floor. Fire officials can only speculate as to why she was there. But the second floor was where her daughter and grandson lived.

Making the rescue were firefighters Anthony Klouse and Alex Knowlton, Faulisi said. “They did do an excellent job,” Faulisi said.

Family members also thanked firefighters for their efforts in Edwards’ obituary. Edwards’ name has been listed in other records as Sharon Simms.

Edwards grew up in Ithaca, attending Cornell University for a time, her son Csiko Sawyer said Tuesday.

She moved to Schenectady in the early 1980s. She had five grown children, 23 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Edwards was active in local churches and worked in human services, Sawyer said.

Sawyer said his mother was the closest thing to a people person they knew. He recalled she was constantly concerned with raising them right.

“She always did it by showing others generosity,” Sawyer said. “She always told us, ‘When you have half of nothing, you give other people half of nothing. Then you have half of nothing together.’ ”