ELDRED – The Eldred Borough Ambulance building went up in flames
– and both ambulances along with it – due to an electrical fire
early Sunday morning.

A fire broke out at the building, which sat across from the
Eldred Borough Volunteer Fire Department hall on Platt Street,
about 12:30 a.m., when an electrical cord “shorted out” while
plugged into the borough’s two ambulances to keep them charged, a
borough firefighter said Sunday evening. The scorched metal shell
of the building was all that remained of it afterward.

“It was the ambulance building; we just our moved ambulance crew
over (from the main fire hall),” the department’s Tom Freer
explained. “It housed two ambulances, a classroom, and the office
for the ambulance personnel.”

No injuries occurred, but both ambulances were rendered unusable
due to smoke and fire damage.

Each ambulance will cost $130,000 to replace, Freer said. An
estimate on the total damage done will not come until an insurance
adjuster visits today.

A state police fire marshal arrived Sunday after the fire and
ruled it both electrical and accidental in nature.

Star Hose Co.; Eldred Township; Smethport; Otto Township;
Portville, N.Y.; Westons Mills, N.Y.; Shinglehouse; Town of Olean,
N.Y.; Allegany, N.Y.; and Limestone, N.Y., volunteers assisted
Eldred Borough personnel at the scene. Knapp Creek, N.Y., and
Roulette firefighters were on stand-by.

Until new equipment arrives, Star Hose Co., based in Port
Allegany, and the Otto Township Volunteer Fire Department will have
to handle Eldred Borough’s coverage area when emergencies pop
up.

“We do have a converted ambulance … while we wait for the (new)
ambulances in the meantime,” Freer explained. “It can’t transport
(patients), but it’ll be a first-response vehicle to get a patient
ready for when a second vehicle comes to take them to the
hospital.”