4 die in upstate NY house fire as crews respond to woman’s desperate call
Fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire that killed four people outside Albany, New York
NEW SCOTLAND, NY — Four people died, including a 5-year-old girl, when flames swept through a home west of Albany, New York, just before sunrise on Saturday.
Fire crews rushed to the house after a desperate call from a woman who told 911 dispatchers she was trapped in the room with a child and couldn’t get out through the window because air conditioner.
“It was a horrible sight,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig D. Apple Sr. told reporters. “I feel terrible for my family and neighbours.”
The Albany Times-Union reports that a 14-year-old boy survived the blaze by jumping out of a second-story window when the fire brigade arrived. He is being treated for scratches and bruises.
A dispatcher tried to help get the woman and child out of the burning house but was unsuccessful. By the time the fire brigade arrived, flames had engulfed the house on Normanskill Road in the New Scotland town, about 13 kilometers west of New York.
Times-Union said the address matched the address of a fruit and vegetable stand listed as Circle Tree Farm.
The names of the victims have not been released, but authorities said that in addition to the child, the dead included a 40-year-old woman and two men, aged 35 and 64.
Investigators said they thought they knew where the fire started but were unable to get inside the gutted home to confirm.
