By Patricia Breakey
DELHI _ Eleven residents of a controversial boarding house at 18 Clinton St. in Delhi were evacuated Tuesday after a fire broke out.
A 12:39 p.m. electrical fire damaged two floors of the house, said Capt. Shawn Kauffman of the Delhi Fire Department.
Kauffman said the fire spread through the walls and ceiling of the house.
"There was extensive smoke, fire and water damage," Kauffman said. "The fire began in the first-floor kitchen, moved through the walls and into a second-floor closet. The fire moved in a really weird pattern."
The Delhi Police Department helped with the evacuation and also assisted with the fire investigation.
Six of the 11 residents of the house were checked by emergency services personnel, but there were no injuries, Kauffman said. He added that the Delaware County Department of Social Services made arrangements for residents' lodging.
The Delhi Fire Department was assisted by fire departments from Bovina, Walton, Franklin and Bloomville, with about 50 firefighters and emergency services personnel at the scene. Ambulances from Cooperstown Medical Transport were also present.
Kauffman said the house was saved because someone called 911 immediately.
"If someone had not called as quickly as they did, it could have been an extensive fire," Kauffman said. "It appears that one of the residents called it in."
Construction workers from Decker Construction of Roscoe were working at the house but had nothing to do with the cause of the fire, Kauffman said.
"Some of the construction workers helped a couple of the residents attempt to put the fire out with fire extinguishers," he said.
Delaware County Fire Coordinators Rich Bell and Dale Downin and a team of fire investigators are investigating, Kauffman said Tuesday night.
The boarding house has been at the center of a dispute between Clinton Street residents and the Delhi Village Board. As a result of complaints about code violations and the residents of the house, village trustees fired Charles Mazurak as code enforcement officer.
Mayor David Truscott voted against firing Mazurak, saying a village official can only be removed from office by a state Supreme Court justice.
The dispute began Oct. 15 when a group of Clinton Street residents attended a village board meeting to complain about residents and the conditions at the boarding house owned by Shannon and John Petschauer, of Brooklyn.
On Thursday night, a group of residents attended another board meeting and told the board that they had been in contact with John Petschauer, according to Carol Ratzler, a Clinton Street resident.
The group, which calls itself the Concerned Residents of Clinton Street, provided the village board with documents obtained from Petschauer. Those documents confirmed a contractual relationship with the Delaware County Department of Social Services to use the premises for homeless clients.
The documents refer to as many as eight DSS clients in two rooms at $400 per month per room. In addition, the documents refer to 10 other long-term clients renting single rooms for $337 to $350 per month.
The group said Petschauer indicated he initiated eviction proceedings on all occupants and is considering converting the building into four apartments.
Truscott said previously that the building has a long history of a nonconforming use in a residential neighborhood. He said that in the 1950s, the house was purchased by the State University College of Technology at Delhi to serve as dormitory space. It was later sold, becoming a fraternity house, before being sold again for its current use.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
