and Melissa Hale-Spencer

BERNE — George Montesano has spent much of his lifetime helping others as a volunteer firefighter. Friday was payback day.

He was working a job in Florida when his home in East Berne caught fire.
"Then the cavalry arrived," he writes in a letter to the Enterprise editor this week, describing the local firefighters who, remarkably, saved his home.

The fire at the Beaver Dam Road home started at about 12:30 p.m., said David Clark, chief of the Berne Volunteer Fire Company.

The cause of the fire is unknown, Clark said yesterday, adding that the Albany County Sheriff’s Department is investigating.

Montesano was out of town with his son, Clark said. Someone at the house called right away after detecting the fire, and damage to the house was contained to the attic, he said.

The first firefighters responding to the scene were Lee Wright, Don Filkins, and Eric Gardner, Clark said.

No one at the scene was injured, said Joe Welsh, vice president of Helderberg Ambulance.

Hilltown firefighters responding to the scene were members of the Berne and East Berne volunteer fire companies, the Knox Volunteer Fire Company, the New Salem Volunteer Fire Department, and Onesquethaw Volunteer Fire Company. The Westerlo and Gallupville volunteer fire departments were on standby, said Clark.
"Everyone did a wonderful job in responding and containing the fire to the attic," Clark said.
Montesano agreed. "I have to put a new roof on and some Sheetrock," he said from Florida on Monday. "We have typical insurance. We’ll be OK"I built the house and I’ll build it again.
"My wife got all the pets out and her grandmother’s china," he added.
The support from the community, though, is what has impressed him most. "The outpouring," he said. "It’s just unbelievable."