Six Firefighters Injured in NY Shopping Center Fire

Six firefighters were sent to the hospital Sunday while battling a stubborn fire in the basement of a shopping center.

Pearl River firefighters were dispatched to an automatic alarm and found smoke showing from a shopping center that housed an indoor gun range just before noon.

While investigating, firefighters encountered heavy smoke conditions in the basement and which spread throughout the complex view "void spaces," Chief Jim Morrison told the Daily Voice.

When firefighters located the fire, they struggled to access it because it ran between the basement ceiling and floor of the occupancies above, including Dollar General and Dunkin Donuts shops.

"The way the building was constructed, we're not able to get to where the seat of the fire is," Morrison told the Daily Voice. "Every time we open a space, there's another space."

As conditions worsened, command pulled firefighters from the building to regroup and determine the best pathway to access the fire.

The technical rescue team from Westchester County was requested to utilize their jackhammers to access fire in the multiple void spaces. Mutual aid firefighters responded from several New York and New Jersey fire departments. 

Two of the firefighters who were taken to the hospital suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, Morrison said.