July 10, 2004
Summer-camp fire drills pay off
By Heather Yakin
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]
Woodbourne – Preparation averted tragedy when a summer camp dormitory caught fire late Thursday.
The blaze at Camp Shearith Hapletah, on Firehouse Road in Woodbourne, was called in to 911 at 11:57 p.m.
When Woodbourne firefighters arrived, the dorm building was engulfed in flames. The 40 campers who stayed there, teenage boys, were all outside.
"We've got to give credit to the camp, because they do fire drills," said Dick Martinkovic, Sullivan County's emergency management coordinator. "They got everyone out of the building, and no one really got hurt."
Fourteen campers were taken to local hospitals for mild smoke inhalation, he said.
Woodbourne was assisted at the scene by firefighters and tankers from Loch Sheldrake, Hurleyville, Woodridge, Grahamsville and Neversink, with Fallsburg, Claryville and Mountaindale on standby. State police, Sullivan County sheriff's deputies and Fallsburg police handled traffic details on nearby Route 52.
Medical attention was given at the scene by EMTs from Hatzolah and the Woodbourne First Aid Squad.
Martinkovic said it appears that fire started with an equipment malfunction in a utility room attached to the dorm. The Sullivan County Bureau of Fire is investigating.
