A malfunctioning stove caught fire and destroyed a Sloansville home early Saturday morning, forcing the lone occupant to escape through a window and onto a roof.
Shortly before 6am Saturday, a pellet or corn stove at the Kelly home at the corner of Route 20 and Saddlemire Hill Road in Sloansville caught fire, according to Eric Johnson, second assistant chief of the Central Bridge Fire Department.
Three people live in the house, but only one, a son, was home at the time, Assistant Chief Johnson said.
The smoke detector in the home went off, saving the man's life. He could not exit through a door on the first floor of the home and escaped through a window and onto a roof.
The son, teenager Craig Shackelton, was taken to the Cobleskill Regional Hospital for a precautionary examination but was not injured, according to the Assistant Chief.
The snowstorm that had started Friday afternoon was easing up by the time firefighters got to the scene but had still dumped at least eight inches of snow on the area. The roads were still slippery, Assistant Chief Johnson said.
He was the first one on the scene and said flames were shooting out of every window of the two-story home. The fire was wind-driven and there was little firefighters could do when they got to the scene, he added.
The home, which was totally destroyed, is about five or six miles from the nearest firehouse.
"All we could do is pour water on it until it (the fire) gave up," Assistant Chief Johnson said.
Firefighters were putting water on the remains until about 9am. They were on the scene until about 10am.
Water had to be trucked from a pond about three miles away from the fire scene.
The first and second floors of the home are a pile of ashes about two feet deep, according to the Assistant Chief.
Firefighters from seven companies responded to the scene and personnel from another five departments were on standby, he added.
An Esperance firefighter, who found a hole in the floor beneath the pellet stove, fell through the floor, according to Assistant Chief Johnson.
The firefighter is sore but has not requested medical attention.