https://www.timesunion.com/7dayarchive/article/Homes-on-fire-in-Rensselaer-12862153.php
Rensselaer fire victim: 'My first thought was my son'
Updated 1:26 pm, Wednesday, April 25, 2018
A public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... more
A public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... moreA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without injury.
lessA public housing unit on First Street in Rensselaer was destroyed by fire on Tuesday night, police said. The unit, which was engulfed in flames, contained five apartments. All of the residents escaped without
... more
RENSSELAER - Brenda McClain sat in her car on First Street all night, watching the rain and the firefighters finish putting out a fire that destroyed five apartments near the corner of First and Tracy streets.
She had arrived home the previous evening to see her apartment and others in the row engulfed in orange flames.
"My first thought was my son," said McClain, who works at Equinox Inc.. "I ran into that building, my house and yelled for my son and realized he wasn't there. And then I grabbed my dog."
She and her 22-year-old son had likely lost everything, including her 200-pair collection of shoes.
But after seven years in the apartment, she couldn’t lose everything. Not when she was so close.
Brenda McClain, resident of building devastated by late evening fire in Rensselaer NY talks about her experience. Skip Dickstein/Times Union
Media: Times UnionAround 8 a.m., McClain approached one of the firefighters going through the rubble and asked him for a favor.
“I told him, ‘I have something really, really important up there,’ ” she said. She was told she wasn’t allowed in to the apartment but after giving him an exact location, the firefighter went upstairs into her scorched bedroom.
A few minutes later, he came out and handed McClain a small leather bag, untouched by the flames.
Inside was McClain’s nest egg, a savings for a future home built up over seven years. She was planning to move in June.
“A lot of hard work, I’ve been saving for a long time,” she said. “I needed that money.”
The fire started around 10 p.m. Tuesday and it took firefighters around an hour to bring it under control. A hot spot briefly reignited around 3 a.m. and fire and utility crews were still on scene Wednesday morning. Firefighters are still trying to determine what caused the blaze in the public housing complex. All of the residents escaped without injury, police detective Scott Earing said Tuesday night.
Despite the loss of many of her belongings, McClain was grateful.
"Everybody rallied around me and having faith that everything's going to work out," she said.
McClain said she hoped to get back into her apartment later Wednesday. She had already packed up most of her kitchen and other belongings in boxes in preparation for the move.
“The good thing is my living room and my kitchen are all packed up,” she said. “I’m hoping that it’s just wet.”
