Around two o’clock in the morning on Thursday 9-1-1 lines lit up at the Rensselaer County Emergency Communication Center when a 1.7 Million Dollar mansion located in the Forest Hills Estates suddenly exploded. Initial callers from the surrounding area reported feeling the ground shake and seeing flames in the nighttime sky. Defreestville Car 2 arrived quickly and found the 7,800+ square foot home completely engulfed in fire. Without hesitation, a 2nd alarm was transmitted. Due to lack of water supply, a special request was put in for tankers and a water relay was quickly established. With the fire growing and threatening a small guest house located about 100 feet off of the 1-2 corner of the building, a 3rd alarm followed by a 4th alarm was transmitted. Over 100 firefighters from Averill Park [Sta. 1], Best Luther [Sta. 3], Clinton Heights [Sta. 8], Defreestville [Sta. 9], Eagle Mills [Sta. 10], East Greenbush [Sta. 11], Hoags Corners [Sta. 15], Mountain View [Sta. 21], Wynantskill [Sta. 42] & West Sand Lake [Sta. 43] Fire Departments operated on scene fire a little over four hours and slowly started getting released. CHFD was represented by 19 members on scene as well as additional crews in the stations. No one was living in the home at the time of the incident. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

8-5, 8-7, R-8, 8C2, Sta. 1, Sta. 3, Sta. 9, Sta. 10, Sta. 11, Sta. 15, Sta. 21, Sta. 42, Sta. 43, EMS Sta. 55, Bureau Car 1, Battalion 30