Catskill firefighter hurt battling Grandview Avenue blaze

CATSKILL―A Catskill firefighter was hurt after stairs collapsed inside a burning house early Sunday morning.

The Catskill Fire Company was dispatched shortly after 7 a.m. to 327 Grandview Avenue, near the traffic circle, for a reported structure fire.

Firefighters were inside the house running a hose line up to the second floor when the stairway collapsed, according to the Catskill Fire Company. The nozzle man had just reached to top step and fell all the way down the basement.

“The firefighter explained he was obviously shocked but didn’t panic because he knew the fire was above him and he had good visibility in the basement. He self-evacuated himself out the basement door to the outside,” the Catskill Fire Company reported.

That firefighter was transported by Catskill Ambulance to Columbia Memorial Hospital and was expected to be released Sunday, “just a little sore and in good spirits,” according to the Catskill Fire Company.

“The first in crews did everything you need to do. They ensured they had no fire under them in the basement; primary searched the first floor which was smoked up good and made progress to the top of the stairs where the bulk of the fire was. Then the collapse of the stairs,” the fire company noted.

Due to the stair collapse, firefighters utilized their ladder truck to fight the fire on the second floor.

The house is in the process of renovation and the fire may have originated in the walls, the Catskill Fire Company reported.

Also responding to the scene were fire departments from Hudson, Athens and Earlton, as well as the Catskill Police Department, Catskill DPW and Greene County Fire Investigation Team.