WTEN: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports - Cohoes Fire Destroys Home

(posted: July 22nd, 7:00am)  A fire in Cohoes destroys a home, leaving nine people without a place to live.

The fire at 38 Sergeant Street , which started just after midnight on Friday, took more than three hours to put out.

Firefighters say a rubber roof held in the heat and fire for the first hour or so, destroying everything inside.

Eight people living on the second floor and the home's owner on the first floor all got out safely.

Officials are just beginning to look into the cause.

Chief Joe Fahd of the Cohoes Fire Department says, "right now we're looking at something on the back porch, there was a clothes dryer back there. We're not looking at it as suspicious right now, but we won't know until we get further into the investigation."

A major concern was the proximity of the neighboring buildings, which were just a few feet away from the building on fire.

The residents of those buildings were also evacuated.