The call of fire at a residential, two-story house at 536 N. Riverside Road in Highland came in to Ulster County 911 at 11:18 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Highland Chief Peter Miller said, “It was dispatched at 11:19 p.m. and Asst. Chief Jeffrey Dimetro, who lives across the street from the home, immediately called for a second alarm at 11:20 p.m.”

Miller said, “whenever we go second alarm Poughkeepsie is our automatic Fire Assist and Search Team [FAST] and they came as well.”

Upon arriving on scene Miller said, “the fire was burning through the roof of the back section of the house and was basically blowing out the front windows; it was heavily involved on both floors, front to rear.” Miller believes the circa 1900 house is beyond repair.

Miller said is department, “made an effort to get into the building and it took quite awhile to knock the fire down. We believe the fire may have been fueled by propane tanks that were outside, and the lines that went into the house. We turned them off, and there were also medical oxygen tanks in the building.”

The chief said homeowner Gary Damberg, 69, was inside the house, “and succumbed to the effects of the fire.”

Miller had to wait at the scene for the arrival of the Medical Examiner and for the fire investigation unit to complete their analysis, “so we cleared the scene at approximately 3:55 a.m. Christmas Day.”

Miller said about 40 firefighters were involved, 24 of which were from Highland, and no firefighter was injured.

“We received assistance from the Milton Fire Department, a tanker from Esopus, the New Paltz Rescue Squad, the Lloyd Police Department and the New York State Police for the investigative agency concerning the fatality,” he said.

Miller noted that Central Hudson disconnected the power from the house while the fire was in progress.

“It was a difficult fire due to the volume. We don’t know if that was all due to the amount of material that was in the house or anything else, but the fire was significantly involved in the interior on both floors and the rear room when we arrived. It was determined that the fire started in the area of the wood stove and the chimney in the rear room. Mr. Damberg was found deceased in his bedroom in the front, left corner of the house.”

Miller recalled that at some time during the blaze he had to tell his firefighters, “that they’re not going in because it was too dangerous.”