A horrific fire ripped through three storefronts in Worcester early Saturday morning, leaving an empty hole on Main Street.
But the blaze might have destroyed nearby buildings if firefighters hadn’t acted quickly and the water supply wasn’t sufficient.
“It was another bad day for Worcester,” said Jim Empie, fire chief for the Worcester Hose Company, who was also on the scene when similar a fire destroyed Main Street buildings in 1994.
The cause is undetermined and still under investigation by Otsego County Fire Coordinators and the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
There were no injuries.
The fire alarm was called in by Gary Cutro from his Maple Street home, which afforded him a first-class view of the fire.
The blaze apparently started in the back portion of Hidden Memories, owned by Michael Palyun. The shop is an antique store on the north side of Main and the former site of the Worcester Market.
“I live on one of the back streets, and when I looked out, all I could see were flames,” Chief Empie said.
Worcester, East Worcester, Schenevus, Westford and Oneonta departments responded, and Chief Empie called for the Cobleskill aerial truck and a tanker from Richmondville.
One Worcester truck was in back of the three buildings, “and it got so hot, we had to pull the truck back,” Chief Empie said.
Wind whipped the flames, and the fire spread from Hidden Memories to the other two attached storefronts, which were vacant.
“I would say within a half-hour of when we were there, all three buildings had fire in them,” Chief Empie said.
Firefighters had to avoid downed and hot power lines until National Grid arrived to shut the power.
Although the two storefronts were empty, an apartment was above one of them. Two Worcester firefighters rescued a semi-invalid man from the apartment, Chief Empie said.
“He was okay, but it was pretty hot when they got him out,” he said.
Oneonta’s aerial truck battled the fire from Main Street, while Cobleskill’s attacked from the back.
The fire could have been worse. The aerial trucks and other hoses were putting out 4,000 gallons per minute, Chief Empie said, and the attack used Worcester’s 300,000-gallon water tank.
Eventually, firefighters drew water from Caryl’s Lake, Worcester’s back-up water supply.
“If we had to bring tankers in, we probably would have lost more,” Chief Empie said. “It was great work by everybody, and the excellent hydrant system we had helped, too.”
Even so, buildings in the area––Putnam Insurance, Country Boy Realty, Worcester White House Inn and Worcester Historical Society––suffered heat damage.
Extreme heat was a factor. Chief Empie noted the old, dry wooden buildings with no fire breaks.
“It was extremely hot with a northeast wind blowing,” he said. “It was the hottest fires I’ve seen in my 55 years with the department.
“I can’t say enough about the people who turned out. They were great.”