WARSAW, N.Y. (WKBW) — A New York State trooper had to be taken to the hospital Tuesday after responding to a three-alarm apartment fire in Warsaw.
The fire happened Tuesday morning on North Main Street inside a living complex that had nine apartments. Authorities said the 20 people who were inside at the time of the fire were able to make it out safely.
“When we got here, the upstairs apartment was fully engulfed. We started vacating this building and the next one to the best of our abilities,” Warsaw police chief Chief Pete Hoffmeister said.
As a result of the destruction, Police said that all 20 of those residents have been left without a home.
“Hopefully [we are] going to get help from the Red Cross shortly,” Hoffmeister said.
A state trooper was treated for smoke inhalation and was taken to a nearby hospital. The trooper was reportedly one of the first on the scene and thought somebody was still inside the building when he heard glass break. The glass breaking was later determined to be caused by the heat.
“We took him to the hospital to be precautionary,” Hoffmeister said.
Warsaw fire chief Deanna Wilcox told reporters the fire impacted all nine apartments in the building.
“There’s a good chance that [the building] is a total loss,” Wilcox said.
One of the building's displaced residents, Hub Kates, just moved into the building one year ago. His apartment was directly next door to the where the fire started.
"Now I don’t have a place to live," Kates said. "I ‘m not [expecting] to find too much left of my place when I get up there."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
