The Saratogian had an article that documented this fire on 7 January 2014 by Jennie Grey.
When a young mother at 15 Pearl St. turned her back for an instant around 10:30 yesterday morning, her 3-year-old son put a plastic strainer on the stove and turned it on. In moments, their stove and then their rented home went up in flames, and Devon Diotte, 25, raced to get little Logan, her older son, Landen, 4, and their puppy outside to safety.
Diotte’s fiance, Christopher Wilber, 23, who works for Quick Response in Malta, a fire and smoke damage restoration company, was not home at the time of the blaze.
Nobody in the family was hurt, but the house was destroyed by the fire and the wind that fanned the flames.
“The wind sure assisted the fire,” said Victory Mills Fire Chief Larry Wolcott, who directed operations at the site.
Volunteer fire departments from Greenwich, Quaker Springs, Schuylerville and Victory Mills spent hours not only battling the blaze, but contending with freezing temperatures. Trucks and apparatus froze, slowing the process. The fire companies had to eventually keep lines running so the water wouldn’t freeze.
Smudges of ash streaked the firefighters’ faces as they worked, while a sheen of ice formed on their black coats. One man could hardly climb into his engine, he was so cold.
“Everyone just froze to death,” Wolcott said.
Diotte, a National Guard veteran, stood shivering on the sidewalk across the street from her burning house. Firefighters kept urging her to go inside a nearby church to get warm, but she and Wilber didn’t budge until Logan and Landen were safely in her mother’s car, buckled into their car seats and kissed good-bye. Diotte’s eyes filled with tears.
Inside the church, she told the story of the fire: “Logan is the one who explores, the one I have to watch, but he’d never done anything like that before. He’s never been interested in the stove or in cooking.”
Older brother Landen may have saved his family by first turning off the stove once Logan had turned it on, then running to tell his mother.
“Mommy, Logan is trying to burn the house down,” the little boy said.
Diotte flew into the kitchen, saw that Logan was unharmed and tried to put out the stove fire with water. Grease under the burners made the flames flare up even more. Then the stove made a loud popping noise. She knew it was time to get out quickly.
She took nothing with her but the boys and their puppy. They are all left with nothing but each other, which Diotte said is the most important thing.
Diotte’s mother is sad that a family Bible, originally belonging to Diotte’s grandfather, was left behind. Landen is crying for the red blanket his great-grandmother sewed for him.
“I don’t think Logan makes the connection between playing at the stove and the fire,” Diotte said. “When we were all safe outside, I said to him, ‘Logan, you can’t play with fire. It’s dangerous.’ He said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ but I don’t think he completely understands.”
The owners of the rented house were wonderfully supportive, Diotte said. They hugged her and uttered not a word of blame, despite losing their building.
Both sides of the family came as soon as they heard of the fire, and a close friend began organizing donations right away. Emergency workers and the Red Cross are also helping Diotte and Wilber with clothing and necessaries.
“Everybody is being amazing,” she said.
Along with being the Town Historian, I am a volunteer firefighter. I remember that morning arriving at the Public Library, hearing the sirens from the Victory Fire Chief’s vehicles and hearing my pager go off. I went down the two blocks and started to help out. My journal had the following remembrances, “A long day at a house fire a few random thoughts. I am glad everyone was safe especially my brother firefighters, so sorry the young family lost everything. The house was across from my church and given the weather I took some refuge in my church. I have never taken refuge in a church before. I am amazed at the Facebook posting and the caring community that I live in.”
Historian at Saratoga - Town of Saratoga 