Buchanan Family Displaced after Saturday's House Fire

Fire officials are ruling a fire that forced a  family of three out of their home in the Village of Buchanan Saturday evening as accidental.

Red Cross officials are assisting a mother, her 17-year-old daughter and her 21-year-old son with food and shelter after a fire ripped through their one-story home, located at 205 Rockledge Avenue. 

Stu Bayer, assistant fire chief with the Buchanan fire department, said the fire started just before 6 p.m. The home's occupants had evacuated before firefighters arrived at the scene.

Bayer said the fire was fully involved in the rear of the structure when firefighters arrived. It took firefighters about 40 minutes to get the blaze under control.

Bayer said an electrical malfunction is believed to have caused the fire and that it is being ruled accidental.

The house was deemed uninhabitable.

Firefighters from Montrose, the VA Hospital in Montrose, Verplanck and Croton assisted Buchanan Saturday. The Cortlandt Volunteer Ambulance Corps was also at the scene.