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A fatal house fire that broke out on Friday evening in Schenectady is under investigation. The fire, which occurred at a two-family home on 15 Brown Street, resulted in one fatality. The name of the victim has not been released pending notification of family members.
Firefighters responded to the scene around 7 p.m. after receiving reports of someone inside the building. Upon arrival, they encountered heavy smoke and fire on the first floor of the building. An explosion also occurred inside the house as firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. The fire was brought under control within approximately 40 minutes and fully extinguished in an hour, according to Schenectady Fire Chief Donald Mareno.
The victim was found on the first floor of the two-story home. No other residents were inside the home at the time of the fire, and no fire personnel sustained injuries. The residents of the second floor were not home at the time of the incident.
The cause of the fire and the subsequent explosion remains under investigation. "The heavy fire and explosion were the biggest challenges, because we didn't know what caused the explosion," Chief Mareno told CBS6 Albany. He noted that there was "a tremendous amount of fire" on the first floor, which suffered significant damage.