Syracuse, NY- On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, at 5:37 p.m., Syracuse Firefighters were alerted by the Onondaga County 911 Center to a reported house on fire at 634 East Division Street, on the City’s North Side. Firefighters from Station 2, on Lodi Street, arrived on the scene two-and-a-half minutes later to find a two-story house with fire showing from the windows on the second floor of the building. A signal ‘99’, indicating a working structure fire, was transmitted.
Teams of firefighters began to stretch hoses into the building to combat the flames. Their progress was slowed by boards on all of the doors and windows on the first floor of the home. The structure had previously been listed as vacant, however firefighters initially received reports that someone might be inside. Crews worked to remove the boards from the entrances and then initiated an aggressive interior fire attack, moving hoses in to fight the fire, while teams began a methodical search of the building. No victims were found during the searches. Conditions on the second floor, where the bulk of the fire was located, quickly deteriorated, and crews briefly had to fight the fire from the outside, using hoses to knock down the flames before moving back inside to complete the job.
The fire was declared out after approximately 50 minutes, and crews remained on the scene for several hours checking for any hotspots and clearing the building of smoke. Syracuse Fire Investigators were on the scene working to determine the origin and cause of the fire, both are still under investigation. The building suffered significant fire damage to the second floor, in addition to smoke and water damage throughout. There were no injuries reported to either civilians or to fire department personnel. The building was vacant at the time the fire occurred.
A total of 38 fire department personnel responded to this incident, including command and support staff. Syracuse Fire Department Ambulance, Syracuse Police, American Medical Response, National Grid, and the American Red Cross also responded to the scene. We thank our partners at the 911 Center, SPD, AMR, National Grid, and the Red Cross.