CLARKSVILLE — On Monday morning, an 18-year-old woman poured kerosene into a wood stove to try to start a heating fire, igniting the house, the sheriff’s department said.

Galina Orlioglu suffered first- and second-degree burns over 10 to 15 percent of her body, Onesquethaw Fire Chief Fred Spaulding told The Enterprise Monday afternoon.

Orlioglu and her boyfriend had just moved into the house at 2448 Delaware Turnpike a few weeks ago, Spaulding said.
Albany County Sheriff’s Department Captain Matt Campbell, located out of the Voorheesville substation, said that the incident "was accidental."

Both Spaulding and members of the sheriff’s department were able to speak to Orlioglu briefly in the ambulance while medics worked on her before she was transported to Albany Medical Center.

She was then later airlifted to Westchester Medical Center’s burn unit. Her condition on Wednesday afternoon was stable, said a hospital spokesperson.

Most of the burns were to her upper body, Campbell said. A State Police helicopter was flown to Delaware Turnpike on Monday to airlift her to a medical center, but the craft was unable to leave the scene because of a mechanical problem, Campbell said. He said it is routine for a helicopter to be called by emergency medical services especially when burn injures involve the face.

The Onesquethaw volunteer company serves as both a fire and medical-emergency response team. Spaulding said that the emergency phone call came in from a neighbor of Orlioglu at 8:30 a.m. and a fire crew arrived at the scene five to six minutes later, because some firefighters were already at the firehouse early that morning to work on a truck.
"The house was fully involved when we arrived," Spaulding said; the whole place was up in flames.

Monday was a bitter-cold and windy day.

Orlioglu was already out of the house when firefighters arrived, Spaulding said. She was home alone at the time because her boyfriend was at work, he said.
The couple’s dog died in the fire, Spaulding said. "The house is pretty much gutted."

The one-story residence with a basement is located up against the turnpike and is between a Stewart’s Shop and Stove Pipe Road. It has both white wood siding and brick, with a driveway that curves underneath the house and into a garage.

On Monday afternoon, all the front and side windows and door were boarded up. The upper half of the building was charred.

The wood stove was on the first floor in the living room, Spaulding said.

Firefighting crews rotated in and out of the house as they fought the blaze, he said.

The firefighters used air bottles, which each last about 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the vigorousness of the users physical activity, Spaulding said. Each firefighter used two air bottles at a time and then was rotated out of the house, for another crew to go inside and continue the effort to put out the fire.

Once a firefighter was out of the house, he or she was sent to a rehab station set up on site where blood pressure, breathing, and fluids were monitored.
The fire companies had the blaze "knocked down" in about a half hour, Spaulding said, but remained on the scene for two-and-a-half hours in total.

Assisting volunteer companies included New Salem and East Berne, Spaulding said. Also the Selkirk Fire Department was called in to use its air truck.

Campbell said that people should be reminded not to use accelerants with wood fires.