Fire damaged a Roseboom residence Wednesday and left three people temporarily homeless, said Lyle Jones, emergency services coordinator for Otsego County, on Thursday.
Owner Dale Webster and tenant Jim Mancuso and his daughter, Sarah, 13, were staying with friends Wednesday, and the Red Cross had been called for help, Jones said. The two-story wood-frame home had about $30,000 to $40,000 worth of damage, he said, most of which was fire damage contained to the second floor. The house can be repaired, he said.
Mancuso had returned to the home at about 11:30 a.m. and heard an unusual noise that sounded like running water, Jones said. He check the recently tended wood stove in the basement and followed the sound to the second floor, where smoke and flames were growing, Jones said, and Webster and Mancuso called 911 to report the blaze.
The fire originated through an outside chimney attached to the house that conducted heat, which ignited a dresser in a second-floor bedroom, Jones said.
The Cherry Valley firefighters, led by Chief Kevin Van Buren and helped by crews from other departments, did an excellent job going into the house and stopping the fire, Jones said. At peak, about 35 to 40 firefighters were at the scene, he said, and mutual aid was provided by Worcester, Middlefield and Westford departments.
No injuries were reported, and two cats survived. One cat escaped on its own, and the other walked up to a firefighter, who wasn't sure what the dark-haired, wet creature was, Jones said.
``It certainly could have been a lot worse,'' Jones said.
Crews shuttled water in tankers from two nearby streams.
The Cherry Valley Fire Department logged back into the station at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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