Schenectady fire destroys Carrie Street house

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Schenectady firefighters battle a house fire at the corner of Carrie and Lang streets.

Schenectady firefighters spent several hours in the windy, bitter cold Thursday battling a house fire at the corner of Carrie and Lang streets.

Crews were called there at 2 p.m. and arrived to find heavy flames coming from the first and second floor, fire Chief Ray Senecal said. Firefighters started an interior attack before retreating and battling the flames from the outside, he said. Twenty personnel were on the scene.

“The wind affected our operation because it intensifies the fire,” Senecal said.

The fire was called under control by 3:30 p.m., but as of 4:45 p.m., crews continued to shoot water on the smoking house.

The fire was “well ahead of us” when the department arrived, Senecal said, and crews were able to locate four fire hydrants near the house. One hydrant malfunctioned due to the cold, but that did not affect the department’s operation, he said.

“We‘ve been out shoveling [snow off hydrants] every day, so that worked well,” he said.

Senecal said the house was reportedly vacant, and no one was inside when fire crews arrived.

“Nobody’s supposed to be living there,” he said.

The house was heavily damaged and will likely be a total loss.

Senecal said that Thursday, with windchill temperatures that dipped into the negatives, was “not a good day to be here.”

“What are you going to do? It’s part of the job,” he said.