Crime & Safety

PCFD Douses Insulation Fire, Saving Bonwit Road Home

Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras to isolate the fire, dousing it quickly while preventing serious damage to the home.

Firefighters were able to save a Bonwit Road home from the brunt of an insulation fire Thursday night with a little help from their infrared tech gadgets.

The Port Chester Fire Department was dispatched to 24 Bonwit Rd. at 10:57 p.m. after the home's owner reported a fire in the wall. When firefighters arrived, they found "a light haze and a heavy odor of smoke coming from an attic area above the occupied section of the home," Chief Kevin McFadden said. Along with the smoke, the homeowner showed firefighters a burned light fixture he'd pulled out of the insulation in a nearby wall.

Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras, which render heat as visible shapes, to pinpoint the fire's spread in the attic's insulation and beams. To limit damage to the home below, they spread tarps beneath the area of the fire.

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After dousing the fire, firefighters pulled the singed insulation out of the walls and removed the burned beams. Overall, the damage was "minimal," McFadden said. No one was injured.

Twenty-five firefighters responded to Thursday night's call, while three engines remained in reserve at Port Chester's fire companies. 

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