Photos: Stubborn fire at Heritage Village Apartments stopped
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Teamwork: Two firefighters roll up a hose after an apartment fire at the Heritage Village complex in Guilderland is contained Monday afternoon. No one was hurt in the fire, which was called in at about 1:30 p.m. Apartment maintenance staff and police had gone door-to-door evacuating residents. Westmere Fire Chief Henry Smith said crews were on the scene in 10 or 15 minutes. He called the fire, in building 108, apartment 10, “kind of stubborn.” Firefighters had to break down some walls to get to it, he said. In addition to the damage to that apartment, there was water damage to three or possibly four units nearby, he said. The fire had reached the wooden structure of the building, but not the roof, when it was brought under control, he said.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Prized possession: When maintenance workers knocked on his door at Heritage Village Apartments Monday afternoon to say there was a “possible fire” nearby, Bill Lipscomb said, the only thing he grabbed was his grandson, Cartier. The boy loves fire trucks, so “he’s been very good,” absorbed in watching the firefighters work, Lipscomb said. “There’s been a lot of action.”
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Watching and waiting: Outside of Heritage Village Apartments Monday afternoon, from left, Girish Soni, Satheesh Basireddy, Pankaj Agarwal, and Shyam Nyathani watch firefighters. Basireddy said that his wife smelled smoke, called the rental office, and came outside with the couple’s son. “My wife’s scared,” he said. “My son is 3.” He and his neighbors and co-workers had come immediately from their jobs in downtown Albany, at the Board of Elections. “We got here in 15 minutes,” he said. Basireddy was not sure how much damage his apartment sustained; it is located right below the apartment that had the fire. “When we go in, we’ll see,” he said.