Kitchen fire in Hebron causes superficial damage

You are currently viewing Kitchen fire in Hebron causes superficial damage
Several firefighters from multiple agencies in New York and Vermont leaving a structure fire at 78 South Grimes Hill Road in Hebron.

Washington County Bureau of Fire Investigators say a kitchen fire that roared in the early evening of April 3 at 78 South Grimes Hill Road in Hebron was electrical in nature.

This video was taken around 4:45 p.m. on April 3, as multiple agencies began to depart the scene of a structure fire at 78 South Grimes Hill Road in Hebron.

“We think it’s maybe electrical and that it started in the heater in the kitchen island,” county fire investigator Floyd Pratt said. “It was a great save and it’s fixable.”

Pratt said damage on the inside included a build up of smoke and heat and some fire and water damage with insulation hanging down.

“Not a lot of structural damage, mainly superficial. Like I said, it can all be fixed,” Pratt said.

Todd Riche of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the caretaker for the residence, Andy Wiltse, confirmed with NYVTmedia that nobody was in the house when the fire started and that the owners of the house on Gaddadale Farm, Leonard and Nicole Dipietra, were at their primary residence in Manhattan.

“I just came here and heard the smoke alarms going off. I walked up to the front of the door of the house and there were flames in the kitchen,” Wiltse said. “I wasn’t even going to come up here today but thank goodness I did.”

Multiple agencies responded to the reported structure fire when it was first dispatched just after 3:30 p.m. First on the scene was West Pawlet (Vermont) Volunteer Fire Department followed by Hebron Volunteer Fire Department.

Hebron fire chief Jeremey Harrington described the point of attack and analyzed the fire to be contained in the kitchen and did not spread to the second floor due mainly to a quick response time and the house being “air-tight” not allowing any oxygen to come in and create a worse situation. Harrington said the knock-down took about 30 minutes.

“We pulled in and it was a working structure fire in the kitchen, first floor, West Pawlet went around back, Hebron guys through the front, had a good knockdown in the kitchen and it never got to the second floor,” Harrington said. “Very lucky, especially with it being on the weekend, you never really know how many people are going to be around.”

Harrington said that in addition to West Pawlet and Hebron, other attending agencies included Hartford, Granville, Cossayuna, Salem, Rupert (Vermont) and Greenwich’s Firefighter Assist and Search Team, with close to 35 total firefighters responding to the call.