5 dead, including 2 minors, in Spring Valley house fire
SPRING VALLEY — Five people died in an early morning house fire Saturday on South Lake Street in Spring Valley.
Two victims were under 18, Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Saturday morning.
Five other people living in the house were injured. One firefighter suffered a minor injury.
The fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m. in the two-story house, and burned through the roof. It was under control at 4:40 a.m. Day called that "a very quick and effective response."
People were trapped in the wood-frame house, but firefighters could not get to them because of the blaze, said Chris Kear, the county's director of fire and emergency response. The house was fully engulfed in flames when the first firefighters arrived, he said.
Kear said the five people in the house who escaped the blaze got out under their own power.
"One person jumped out of a second-floor window," Kear said.
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Day said the cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Officials said there were no problems getting sufficient water pressure at the scene, and there was no apparent heat damage to other nearby homes.
The five occupants who were injured were taken to local hospitals, Day said. He had no immediate comment on their conditions.
Day said it was not known how many people lived in the house. He described it as a two-family house.
Day said the Red Cross was on the scene and would assist the survivors in finding a new place to live. The fire completely destroyed the building, officials said.
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The second floor of the house collapsed, officials said. Three victims were found on the second floor and two on the first.
Ed Markunas, director of the county's Office of Buildings and Codes, said a Sept. 2021 title search done by the village of Spring Valley revealed 14 code violations on the property, that were corrected in Nov. 2021.
A second title search by the village in June 2022 reported no violations, he said.
The house on South Lake Street is less than a quarter-mile from the scene of a fatal March 2021 fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults. Spring Valley firefighter Jared Lloyd and one resident of the home died in that fire.
"It is an eerie feeling," Day said, commenting on the proximity of the two locations.
Former Spring Valley Building Inspector Ray Canario is now facing trial on charges of providing false information to the state for building inspections, including for Evergreen.
A judge recently dismissed the same charges against former Building Inspector and Public Works Director Wayne Ballard.
There have long been concerns about the quality of building inspections in Spring Valley. Last year, the state put Rockland County in charge of the village building department.
Day promised to work with other agencies to assist the survivors of Saturday's fire.
"We will do whatever we can to help them through this tragedy," Day said.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley NY house fire kills 5, including 2 children
