TROY, N.Y. -- Rose Germain stretched her neck as far as she could out of her third-story window early Sunday morning, desperately trying to breathe in fresh air as her Ninth Street apartment building burned.
She said it seemed like forever until firefighters arrived to douse the first-floor fire so she could be led down the stairs to safety.
But what Germain didn't know was that Troy firefighters were already at another call for a suspected arson three miles away in Lansingburgh when they had to rush to rescue her, her husband and 17-year-old son around 1 a.m. Sunday.
"I was screaming 'Help me! Help me!'" Germain said Sunday afternoon outside the apartment building, where she had arrived to pick up some clothes. But the front door was padlocked to protect anyone from going inside the damaged structure. "I can't get my stuff," she said, breaking down in tears on the stoop of her neighbor's apartment. "I have nowhere to live."
Germain said that during the fire her husband, Jason, climbed down a ladder to safety, while she and her son, Brandon -- who had the family cat in a backpack -- were led down the stairs by firefighters through thick smoke.
Troy Fire Chief Tom Garrett said Watervliet and Green Island fire departments were called to help at both fire scenes. The first calls came in for a fire at 22 118th St. A few minutes later, a second call came in for a fire at 257 Ninth St.
All residents had exited the 118th Street blaze, which appeared to be intentionally set near an outside wall, Garrett said. While only two apartments sustained smoke and water damage, the other two also had to be vacated Sunday because the gas lines on the outside of the building melted.
"This building was a dump and we restored it," said owner Gifty Colasante, who had arrived Sunday from Queens to survey the damage. "And now this."
The 118th Street fire appears to be started by the same person who lit a garage on fire early Friday morning behind ST Grocery and Deli near the corner of Second Avenue and 118th Street, Garrett said. In that blaze, the fire was also started on the outside.
The Ninth Street fire started on the inside of the first-floor vacant apartment and is also suspicious. The second-floor unit was empty, too.
"I have someone starting fires at buildings that are occupied. It's not a good situation," Garrett said.
Ninth Street resident Yvonne Drewe said a couple of men who lived across the street kicked in the apartment building's front door before firefighters arrived, but were turned away by the smoke.
"We thought 'Oh My God, are they ever going to get here and get those people out of there,'" Drewe said. "Little did we know there was another fire they were at."
The state Office of Fire Prevention and Control is assisting in the investigations.
Copyright 2012 - Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
