The Hudson Valley chapter of the Red Cross provided emotional and financial assistance to 12 adults and one six-year-old who had been displaced after the second-alarm fire on Sunday, Aug. 30 at approximately 11:25 a.m.
Reports of pluming smoke and "heavy fire" on second floor, attic and through the roof of an apartment building in the Jefferson at Merritt Park launched a slew of emergency service outlets, including:
- Fishkill Fire Department,
- Rombout Fire Department,
- East Fishkill Fire Department,
- City of Beacon Fire Department and Mobile Life
Units from Rondout, East Fishkill, Wappingers, New Hamburgh and Hughsonville were called to the scene shortly after the first outlets arrived at the scene.
The units on the far right of the Village of Merritt Park complex, 1317 and 1324, sustained the most damage. The roofs of these apartments had burned through completely.
The Dutchess County Fire Investigation Division is investigating the cause of the blaze, according to Fishkill Police Commissioner Glenn Scofield.
"Our role as the police department was to merely crowd control and traffic control," Scofield said.
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