At 0034 hours the tones were tripped by Central Dispatch for a reported house fire on Pine Street in the village. Chief Bob Crowe arrived on scene within five minutes, established command, and reported working fire with heavy smoke showing in a multiple dwelling. He immediately requested mutual aid for manpower from Morley Fire, Pyrites Fire, Rennselaer Falls Fire, and Potsdam Fire for Tower 5 and manpower. Engine 6 arrived within minutes and laid a 5 inch line from the hydrant at Pine and Miner Streets. The initial line, a 2 1/2", was stretched to the front door. Crews began to make entry and encountered heavy smoke and heat. Fire began to roll over above them in the front hall and they were ordered back to the front porch to allow a transitional attack to be mounted from the D side of the building. Once the fire had been knocked down significantly, crews re-entered the building and proceeded to work at extinguishing the fire. Tower 1 made its way up the narrow street to take a position at the right front of the building. Engine 8 laid in from the hydrant at the Park Street end, leaving room for Potsdam Tower 5 to back down the street and take a position on the left front of the building. Due to the balloon frame construction of the building it was evident that the fire had extended to the attic. As crews began opening us ceilings on the second floor it was clear that the fire had been burning for some time and had a good foothold on the attic space. Complicating matters was the fact that the building had been under renovation and many of the interior wall coverings had been removed, leaving open void spaces throughout the building.
Additional mutual aid was called from West Potsdam Fire, Madrid Fire, Pierrepont Fire, Heuvelton Fire and Hermon Fire, with DeKalb Junction Fire standing by at Canton Station. The fire was knocked down on the first and second floors but firefighters were not able to gain the upper hand in the attic and eventually the fire had weakened the roof structure sufficiently to cause the roof to begin to collapse. Chief Crowe ordered the building evacuated and PAR to be taken. Aerial master streams were put into operation and overhaul of the soffit areas was undertaken to gain access to the fire in the attic. During this operation, water supply became an issue as a large quantity of water was being flowed. Heuvelton E-106 was directed to lay a large diameter line to the hydrant near the Midtown Plaza on Miner Street to supplement the water supply on scene. Personnel from the Village DPW also responded and increased the pressure in the system and the flow coming from the waterworks on Waterman Hill. The master streams were able to knock down the bulk of the fire. Crews re-entered the building and completed overhaul operations, fully extinguishing the fire.
Investigators from the St. Lawrence County Fire Investigation Team responded to the scene to conduct the fire investigation. No injuries were reported and all units were back in service at 0637 hours.