On Sunday, December 15 a fire at 517 Crescent Avenue in Clintondale forced the resident from her home during the holiday season. A fire alarm sounded inside the home just before 3 p.m., waking the resident, which allowed her time to safely exit the home. Of her 19 pet cats, only about half survived the blaze.

Clintondale Fire Chief Rick Brooks described the scene upon his arrival.

“When I first got here, I did notice that there were flames rolling out underneath the eaves of both the garage and the house itself on both sides of the structure,” he said. “That indicated a fire in the roof throughout the entire length of the structure. It did burn through the roof and we were able to contain it.”

Brooks said his company received assistance from the Highland and Modena fire departments with engine and tanker trucks. Milton and New Paltz were also on the scene. The Plattekill Fire Department were on standby for Clintondale.

Brooks was unable to release the name of the homeowner, saying the cause of the fire is being looked into by the Ulster County Division of Fire Investigation.

“We believe it is electrical in the garage,” Brooks said. “It was a well-seated fire by the time we started arriving on the scene with the equipment. It burned into the [house] attic and burned across and a little bit into the main house, which suffered quite a bit of smoke, water and soot damage but a couple of the rooms were untouched.”

Brooks said no firefighters were hurt.

“We all worked as a single unit and it was quite a coordinated effort.” he said.