Fire strikes Bethlehem apartment buildings

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Carlos Matias searches for salvageable belongings at 11 Equinox Court on Wednesday in Bethlehem. He had lived in the Deer Run apartment complex for 10 years before a fire destroyed his building and a building next door on Tuesday.

A bedroom in 9 Equinox Court as seen on Wednesday after fire destroyed the building and a building next door a day earlier in the Deer Run apartment complex in Bethlehem.

About 40 feet separates the two buildings, 9 and 11 Equinox Court, in Deer Run apartment complex that were destroyed by fire on Tuesday in Bethlehem.

About 40 feet separates the two buildings, 9 and 11 Equinox Court, in Deer Run apartment complex that were destroyed by fire on Tuesday in Bethlehem.

Nine Equinox Court as seen on Wednesday after fire destroyed it and a building next door a day earlier in the Deer Run apartment complex in Bethlehem.

About 40 feet separates the two buildings, 9 and 11 Equinox Court, in Deer Run apartment complex that were destroyed by fire on Tuesday in Bethlehem.

Eleven Equinox Court as seen on Wednesday after fire destroyed it and a building next door a day earlier in the Deer Run apartment complex in Bethlehem.

Carlos Matias searches for salvageable belongings at 11 Equinox Court on Wednesday in Bethlehem. He had lived in the Deer Run apartment complex for 10 years before a fire destroyed his building and a building next door on Tuesday.

BETHLEHEM — A fire that destroyed two apartment buildings in the Deer Run complex off Kenwood Avenue Tuesday night is not suspicious, Bethlehem police said.

Flames ignited and ripped through the buildings sometime before 7:30 p.m. at the apartment complex on Equinox Court, located in a cul-de-sac off Kenwood Avenue. By 9 p.m., the worst of the blaze appeared to be under control.

No one was injured, but eight families were displaced and 17 people were being assisted by the local American Red Cross chapter, according to the Red Cross, Slingerlands Fire Chief Craig Sleurs and Bethlehem Deputy Police Chief James Rexford.

Deer Run resident Carlos Matias said he had just finished walking his dog at about 7 p.m. Tuesday and was looking forward to going out to dinner later that evening with his wife when he noticed a small ground fire near the building at 11 Equinox, next door to his apartment of 10 years.

He said he and his neighbor tried to stamp out the fire, but it was feeding on piles of fluffy, fallen seed from the nearby cottonwood trees and was moving too quickly for the two to keep up. He said he watched it spread under his neighbor's porch, where the seed had accumulated, and it ignited a propane tank attached to a gas grill.

He brought the dog upstairs and went back down to try to keep the flames from his home, about 40 feet away from his neighbor's, but the same scenario transpired, with the flames eventually igniting a pile of seed under his porch.

"I have never experienced anything like that before," he said Wednesday while rummaging through the burnt wreckage of his home, looking for a mesh bag that contains the couple's passports, birth certificates and other paperwork. "It was moving across the ground, like there was gasoline or something, and it was spreading and spreading and spreading and before you know it, everything is engulfed. There was nothing we could do."

Rexford said Wednesday he would not comment on the witness linking the fire's spread to what is called poplar fluff — the white, snow-like seeds that are currently blanketing the Capital Region from poplar-type trees. But there were questions about why two buildings so far apart had caught on fire. Rexford said the fire is still under active investigation.

Sleurs, the Slingerlands fire chief, said Wednesday a cause for the fire hadn't been determined, and referred other comment to Rexford. But he said fighting the fire when cottonwood seed is everywhere "didn't help." "It's been so dry and that stuff is falling all over the place," he said about the yearly shedding of seeds.

Earlier on Tuesday, Albany fire officials warned residents that there has been an increase in outdoor fires associated with the igniting of the fluff — fueled by videos online of people lighting the seeds on fire.

As firefighters battled the Deer Run blaze Tuesday night, water had to be brought in to extinguish the flames after the first crews to arrive experienced a drop in pressure — not unusual when water sources on cul-de-sacs are tapped in such a fashion, Sleurs said.

The town warned residents Wednesday that water in the Slingerlands area might be discolored because of the large amount used to fight the blaze. They recommended waiting, and then running cold water until it's clear before using; however, the town said the sediment in the water does not pose any threat.

The fire brought a large presence of departments Tuesday night including those from Delmar, Bethlehem, Slingerlands, Selkirk, New Salem, Westmere and McKownville.

The surrounding scene, close to the Albany County rail trail, is heavily wooded, which appeared to be of some concern to those fighting the fire. A bucket loader was called in to work the scene.

Lauren Stanforth contributed to this report.