ALBANY, NY – A fast-moving fire tore through five row houses on Myrtle Avenue early Friday morning, costing 42 people their homes in the second inferno since May to consume a cluster of homes in the city.
The fire at 20 Myrtle Avenue -- a government-owned building less than two blocks from the governor's mansion on Eagle Street -- was reported at 11:45 p.m. Thursday night. By the time firefighters had the blaze under control over four hours later it destroyed several other adjoining buildings, Albany Fire Chief Joseph Gregory said.
The fire started inside 20 Myrtle Ave., a vacant three-family home that neighbors said sometimes attracted squatters. The structure was posted with an "X" sign placard that warns firefighters building is vacant and the interior could be dangerous.
Gregory said the fire had already spread to 16 and 18 Myrtle, quickly moving into neighboring homes at 22 and 24 Myrtle. Everyone made it out of the homes safely, but two people were later taken to the hospital for evaluation, he said.
The Northeastern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross provided emergency aid to 42 people who were forced from their homes on the block between Philip and Grand streets in the city's Mansion Neighborhood.
The blaze destroyed five buildings before crews got the flames under control shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, the fire chief said.
"It was burning everywhere," said Ehney Tha, who lived in the basement apartment at 22 Myrtle.
Tha was just getting home from work when his companion told him about the fire burning in the back of the home next door. He said he grabbed his two kids and fled.
Tha and other family members stood outside the smoldering homes Friday morning as city officials went into the buildings to get their personal documents and family heirlooms.
All five buildings were destroyed, and emergency demolition on the properties was expected to begin as early as Friday night.
On May 19, seven row houses were destroyed on Bradford Street when fire from one building spread into the attic above and invaded the crawl spaces over the adjoining houses. At least 40 people lived in the buildings that burned in that blaze. No one was injured but most people lost everything they owned.
Myrtle Avenue resident Rose Mitchell-Tenerowicz said she was about to fall asleep when she noticed the fire trucks outside her home.
"It was like a wildfire last night," she said Friday morning. "I've never seen anything like it, and when the front of the building starts burning, and the 160-year-old architectural embellishments are falling off in flames, it's a whole other reality. These are where people live."
Fire investigators spent Friday at the scene searching for clues of a cause.
"They're putting the pieces of this puzzle together and hopefully they'll have more information later on," Gregory said.
The cause is under investigation, but Gregory said investigators are certain the blaze started in the vacant building at 20 Myrtle Ave.
Mitchell-Tenerowicz expressed frustration over the vacant buildings that pock-mark the block that she and her family have called home for six years. She said property owners should be forced to account for the conditions of the buildings they own.
Her home is next to a placarded 'X' building that has been vacant for years.
"We've lived through a few big house fires in this neighborhood," she said. "When you live in a neighborhood with this many vacant buildings, you're just waiting until it's your house, or the house across the street."
Albany County foreclosed on 20 Myrtle Ave. property last year. County officials said the property accrued about $62,000 in delinquent taxes and fees. It was awaiting approval from the county legislature before being given to the Albany County Land Bank..
In addition to this week's blaze and the fire on Bradford, the city has seen three additional devastating fires rip through adjoining homes over the last-two years.
On Sept. 30, 2018, a total of 12 homes were destroyed from two separate blazes that broke out within an hour of each other - first on Sheridan Avenue and then Quail Street. About a year before that, four historic buildings were lost in a fire on Madison Avenue.
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