Syracuse, NY- On September 4, 2023, at 4:17 a.m., Syracuse Firefighters were alerted by the Onondaga County 911 Center to a possible structure fire at 330 Richmond Ave, on the City’s West Side. Firefighters from Station 5, on North Geddes Street, arrived on the scene in just under two minutes and reported a house fully engulfed in flames. A signal ‘99’ was transmitted, and crews went to work.
The house was known to be vacant, and had boards over the windows and doors on the first floor, as well as heavy clutter near the exits. As crews removed these boards to gain entry, it became clear that they would not be able to enter the home due to the heavy volume of fire, and poor conditions. A defensive or ‘outside’ operation was implemented. As the first hoses were being pulled by crews arriving on scene, it was noted that the fire was threatening to spread to the house next door, which was occupied. Firefighters quickly evacuated the occupants of that home, and worked to stop the fire’s spread, as well as knock down the flames in the original building. Crews used master stream devices capable of flowing 500 gallons of water per minute, as well as elevated waterways from trucks on scene, to knock down the bulk of the fire. Portions of the fire building began to collapse, further complicating operations.
Once the main body of fire had been knocked down, firefighters cautiously moved to an interior operation, to douse any remaining hotspots and check for any victims in the building. All searches for victims were negative, and crews were able to extinguish the remaining flames. The fire was declared out after approximately 80 minutes. The fire building sustained substantial fire, smoke, and water damage. Homes on either side of the fire building also sustained damage due to the intense heat radiating from the fire. Thankfully, the damage did not prevent the occupants of the neighboring buildings from returning to their homes once the fire had been extinguished. Syracuse Fire Investigators were on the scene working to determine the origin and cause of the fire. There were no injuries reported to civilians or to Firefighters.
A total of 39 fire personnel responded to this fire, including command and support staff. Syracuse Fire Department Ambulance, Syracuse Police, American Medical Response, and National Grid also responded to the scene. We thank our partners at the 911 Center, SPD, AMR, and National Grid.