One Firefighter Burned, Another Injured in Oneida St. Blaze
Published on April 10, 2024
Syracuse, NY- On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at 10:57 p.m., Syracuse Firefighters were alerted by the Onondaga County 911 Center to a reported structure fire in the 600 block of Oneida Street, near the Upstate Niagara Dairy Plant. Firefighters from Station 3 on Bellevue Ave. arrived on the scene at 610-612 Oneida St. moments later and found a two-and-a-half-story, two-family home with heavy fire showing on the first floor. Several doors on the exterior of the home were partially boarded up. A signal ‘99’ was transmitted, indicating a working fire, as additional units arrived at the scene.
Firefighters gained entry and crews stretched hoses into the structure. Other teams of firefighters started methodical searches of the building, looking for any trapped occupants. Complicating matters, live power lines had burned off the building and were lying in the front yard of the home. Crews working inside the building were met with high heat, heavy fire, and blinding smoke. As they moved through the structure extinguishing the fire on the first floor, it became apparent that there was also fire on the second floor and attic. After extinguishing most of the fire, crews discovered that the attic stairs were heavily damaged and unusable. Firefighters were pulled out of the building so that the fire in the attic could be put out using hoses from the exterior. The fire was declared out after approximately 80 minutes.
The home, which was determined to be vacant, suffered heavy fire, smoke, and water damage on the first and second floors and the attic. Due to downed power lines, National Grid had to cut power to the entire 600 block of Oneida Street to make the scene safe for crews working. Syracuse Fire Investigators were at the scene working to determine the origin and cause of the fire; that investigation is ongoing.
Two firefighters suffered injuries during the fire attack. One suffered an arm injury but was able to keep working after being evaluated at the scene. The second suffered burns to the legs during the initial fire attack. That firefighter was evaluated by ambulance crews at the scene and transported to a local hospital for further treatment. They are in stable condition at this time. There were no injuries reported to civilians.
A total of 40 Fire Department personnel responded to this incident, including command and support staff. Syracuse Fire Department Ambulance, Syracuse Police, American Medical Response, and National Grid also responded to the scene. We thank our partners at the 911 Center, SPD, AMR, and National Grid.