RENSSELAER -- A weeping woman hugged her crying child Friday as she watched a smoldering blaze gut her Second Street home, spread to a neighboring home and leave 11 people homeless.
"My car broke down on Tuesday and my house burned down on Friday," said Billy Joe Williams, who lived with her 4-year-old daughter on the first floor of two at 925 Second St.
Officials were deciding late Friday whether the wood-frame building would have to be torn down, while Williams' landlord, Rensselaer firefighter Rick Schrimsher, salvaged a large photo of the girl and her Teddy bear from the charred interior.
Firefighters tried to stop the fire from damaging 923 Second St., but the one-family home suffered some smoke and water damage. The vinyl siding of a third home, a one-family at 927 Second St., melted.
No injuries were reported.
Seventy-five firefighters from the city, East Greenbush, Clinton Heights, Wynantskill and Defreestville worked from just after noon until after 4 p.m. on the stubborn, multialarm fire, officials said. Thick smoke poured from the eaves and the siding as the fire spread.
"It's an old home that was recently reconditioned, so it was difficult to find the fire in the building," said Assistant Fire Chief Jay Corcoran.
Corcoran said the six residents at 923 Second St., three of whom are city volunteer firefighters, will likely be able to move back in.
Investigators have not yet determined the fire's cause, but Schrimsher said it appeared to have started in the basement.
