Syracuse Firefighters Respond to Fire in Vacant Home

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – On March 22nd, 2023, at 5:53 p.m., the Syracuse Fire Department was alerted by the Onondaga County 911 Center to a possible building fire in the 1000 block of Park Street, on the City’s North Side. Firefighters from Station 2 (Lodi Street) arrived on the scene at 1021 Park Street in just over 2 minutes. As they arrived, firefighters saw heavy smoke and flames shooting from the side of the two story house. They also noted that there were boards on all the windows and doors, indicating that the house was possibly vacant.

Firefighters attempted an offensive attack on the fire, removing boards from doors and windows to stretch hoses into the building to put the fire out. Other teams of firefighters began a systematic search for trapped victims. Firefighters had to contend with additional boarded up windows and doors that hampered firefighting efforts. The fire was burning intensely while firefighters worked to complete primary searches of the first and second floor. These searches are done quickly but thoroughly to seek out any victims that may be trapped inside. The primary searches of both floors of the building were negative. Incident command made the decision to switch to an exterior, defensive operation.

After evacuating the building, firefighters regrouped and confirmed all personnel had made it out safely. They then flowed water from outside and were able to knock down the bulk of the fire before transitioning back to an interior attack to completely extinguish the blaze. In total, it took approximately 50 minutes to bring the fire under control.

Syracuse Fire Investigators are on the scene working to determine the origin and cause of the fire. The structure sustained smoke, fire, and water damage, and appeared to be vacant at the time of the fire. No injuries to Fire Department personnel were reported. There were also no reports of civilian injuries.

In total, over 40 Fire personnel responded to this fire, including command and support staff. Syracuse Police, American Medical Response, and National Grid also responded. We thank our partners at Onondaga County 911, SPD, AMR, and National Grid.