Goldens Bridge firehouse burns, brush truck destroyed; 2 other vehicles damaged
By Terence Corcoran, tcorcora@lohud.com

GOLDENS BRIDGE – An electrical fire heavily damaged the Goldens Bridge firehouse on Monday morning and destroyed a 1943 brush truck, officials said.

Two other vehicles — a rescue truck and a sport-utility vehicle — were damaged in the blaze, which was apparently sparked by a faulty electrical connection to a firetruck.

A fire commissioner and a volunteer were in the Route 138 firehouse when the blaze broke out around 9:20 a.m. The firefighter suffered smoke inhalation while moving apparatus out of the burning building.

Commission Chairman Ed Brancati said he was working out in the upstairs exercise room when he saw what appeared to be smoke coming from a radiator on the east wall. He and the firefighter, Mike Melillo, went to the boiler room to see if the furnace had malfunctioned.

The boiler was fine but Brancati said when he looked back toward the area where he first saw the smoke, he saw a wall of smoke. Melillo put on his turnout gear and got four of the seven vehicles out of the building before he was overcome by smoke.

By 9:30 a.m., flames were shooting through the roof on the east side of the building.

A Bedford Hills ladder truck fought the flames from above as firefighters set up portable pools to hold water to fight the fire as tanker trucks ferried water to the scene.

Firefighters brought the fire under control by about 10:30 a.m. The building continued to smolder throughout the afternoon.

Brancati said the rescue truck is probably worth about $500,000. The Goldens Bridge Fire District, founded in 1909, includes parts of Lewisboro and Somers and has about 100 members.

"It's terrible," said Joe Manstrelli, a 52-year member, as he assessed the damage. "But we'll rebuild."

Officials said there are hard-wired smoke detectors in the building that have back-up batteries but it's unknown whether they sounded. The investigation's scope will include looking into whether the detectors failed, they said.