Firefighters Encounter Cluttered Conditions In Bedford Road Blaze

PLEASANTVILLE, NY — Pleasantville firefighters were assisted by several neighboring departments to battle a difficult house fire overnight Wednesday.

The alarm came in at 1:02 a.m. for a reported structure fire in the 100 block of Bedford Road. "I got there at 1:06 and the room where the fire started, on the third floor, was fully involved," Chief Madison Martineau told Patch.

Firefighters found not only heavy fire but also a cluttered interior. Temperatures were below freezing, and ice formed quickly on the driveway, the sidewalk and the street.

Chief Martineau called a second alarm to bring more assistance, and a salt truck to deal with the icy surfaces.

Millwood and Pocantico fire companies plus a FAST team from Ossining joined the volunteers already there from Chappaqua, Thornwood, Briarcliff Manor and Valhalla. The American Red Cross assisted the two residents. The Mount Kisco Fire Department stood by to cover Pleasantville.

The fire was limited to the third floor, though lower flowers sustained water damage. No one was injured, and the fire was determined to be accidental — started by a space heater, the chief said.

Millwood firefighters described it on Facebook as "Collyer's Mansion conditions" — a firefighting term used in New York named after the house where two brothers who were reclusive hoarders were found dead in 1947.