Camp Laguardia fire ‘possibly is suspicious’
CHESTER. Ten local fire departments worked to put out the blaze at at Camp Laguardia, a former homeless shelter for New York City.
| 22 Jul 2023 | 11:28
Flames visible from Meadow Ave. in Chester, N.Y. Photo provided by Valerie Mellinger
The Chester Fire Department responded to a blaze at Camp Laguardia in Chester about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 19.
Camp Laguardia spans 258 acres and previously was used as a homeless shelter for New York City.
The building on fire was abandoned. “It looked like it might’ve been a shop of some sort back in the day, but it was used to store the old mattresses from the old bungalows” said Tom Marchiano, Chester Fire Department’s assistant fire chief.
Ten local fire departments, including Chester, responded to the call. The entire operation lasted about four hours, but the blaze was under control within an hour, said Marchiano. Extra time was spent waiting for an excavator to come in and remove the mattresses to ensure the entire fire was put out.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, and under investigation by the Orange County Fire Investigation Unit.
The building’s construction, however, could pose a roadblock for investigators. Old buildings such as this one, said Marchiano, have shingles made with gasoline - which in this case, contributed to the fire, and would likely cause an arson dog to sniff gasoline on the tiles.
“They were saying it possibly is suspicious, because there is no electricity in that building, or to the campus, and it’s an old brick building,” said Marchiano. “There was really nothing there that could do anything.”
