Firefighters stop blaze on main GE campus

Schenectady firefighters were called out late Wednesday to douse a fire on the main General Electric campus.

The first alarm went out about 11:15 p.m. for a report of a fire with smoke showing in Building 273, according to emergency radio transmissions. Responding firefighters called for a second alarm shortly after arriving on scene about five minutes later.

Firefighters later said the fire was contained to a standpipe in the building, with some roofing material also ignited. They said the building was evacuated, and the fire was out about midnight, with firefighters leaving the scene just after 12:30 a.m. today.

No injuries were immediately reported at the scene.

Building 273 was the building toured by President Barack Obama in January 2011 when he came to the area to tout his economic initiatives. According to GE press materials from the president’s visit, the steam and generator plant housed in that building is one of the largest steam turbine manufacturing facilities in the world.