Two morning fires had Endicott Fire Department working through the snowy conditions on Friday. At 5:30am crews responded to an apartment fire at 215 South Loder Ave in the village. The fire inside a unit at Loder Court Apartments sent two residents to the hospital due to smoke inhalation.

Endicott Fire Chief Joseph Griswold says that fire started in the apartment's kitchen, where a resident had left cooking unattended. The entire apartment suffered damage and smoke damage extended to the rest of the wing of the building. 

"We arrived on scene and there was a working fire in an apartment, it started in the kitchen," says Griswold, "Somebody was cooking and left it unattended. It extended to the rest of the kitchen and there was smoke and water damage."

The second fire happened around 9:30am at 409 Marion Street. Griswold says the source of the that fire was a dryer in the basement. The fire was contained to that immediate area and no one was hurt.



"There's a lot of different things that could cause a dryer fire," says Griswold, "Most of the time the lint trap hasn't been cleaned or the vent hose is plugged from lint. Or sometimes you just put too many items of clothing in and it overheats. It could be a malfunction with the gas valve because it's a gas dryer. So there's several different things that could have caused it."

Griswold says his crew was able to knock down both fires very quickly, but the snowy conditions do get in the way when trying to respond. Griswold points out that a lot of the fire hydrants are buried in snow from the plows and haven't been dug out yet. A way residents can help keep themselves and their neighbors safe is to dig out fire hydrants on their street when shoveling sidewalks.