'Careless accident' leads to Fourth of July fire

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -The Schenectady Fire Department extinguished two fires over Independence Day weekend: one on Friday evening and another on Saturday morning. Friday's fire left two homes demolished.

Valerie Wolf lived with her family at 1588 Avenue A for almost a decade. She was out on her back porch during the Fourth of July when something was sparkling. “I saw what looked like fireworks and I was like, ‘Oh, is that near the buildings? That’s way too close,’ and I went out to go say something and as I’m going in between the buildings, I realized that it’s on fire.”

Yelling, “Fire!” Wolf ran back inside to save her family. “The only person that had the shoes on was my husband and everything else was just chaotic from there. We were devastated.”

Both homes went up in flames. The fire spread quickly due to how close the buildings were and nearby construction materials. It even damaged other homes.

Fire Chief George Burns told NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski this was a careless accident. “Due to the improper discarding of fireworks and firework material. It’s just devastating when someone loses their home like that: twelve people were displaced, one person was injured.”

All types of fireworks are illegal in the city. The local police department asks that anyone who sees or hears fireworks going off to call it in. And if you want to see fireworks, leave the pyrotechnics to the pros.

As Wolf continues to look for her belongings, including a cat and her late daughter’s ashes, she said she’s not mad at whoever caused the fire. “We’re all out of homes and that’s what everybody should be thinking about is, ‘How can we fix this?’”

Click here to view the Wolf family's GoFundMe.