Syracuse, N.Y. – On September 20, 2022 at 5:32 a.m., Syracuse firefighters were alerted by the 911 Center to an automatic fire alarm from a monitoring company at 833 E. Brighton Avenue, Brighton Towers, Tower II. While on the way, the alarm was upgraded from a fire alarm to a possible structure fire due to 911 calls reporting a 5th floor apartment on fire. A possible structure fire response adds significantly more companies to the response. Crews from Station 8 (S. Salina St.) arrived to the 18-story apartment building in just over 4 minutes. As firefighters made their way to the indicated 5th floor apartment, they were met with heavy smoke in the hallway. Firefighters stretched hose from the stairwell connections to the apartment. They entered the fire apartment to search for victims and to extinguish the fire.
After the fire was extinguished, firefighters worked to ventilate the toxic smoke and gases from the building by systematic pressurization of stairwells and opening certain outlets. Smoke spreads through apartment buildings to different floors and after fire suppression it becomes SFD’s priority to clear it for other residents’ safety. Some residents in the vicinity of the fire were evacuated but most were told to shelter-in-place with their apartment door closed, as it is safer.
The fire was successfully prevented from spreading from the fire apartment. One resident was transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation symptoms. One resident was displaced. The fire is under investigation by Syracuse Fire Investigators. We thank our partners at the 911 Center, Syracuse Police, AMR, and the American Red Cross.
Fires in apartment buildings are particularly hazardous due to the number of residents concentrated in the structure. In general, do not prop-open apartment doors or stairwell doors. These act as lifesaving barriers to prevent the spread of deadly smoke and toxic gases, in addition to fire.
