By TERRY CORCORAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 12, 2003)

No one was injured yesterday afternoon in a fire that damaged a single-family home on Schuylkill Court, across from the Kent Primary School on Route 52, fire officials said.

The fire at the residence of Brenda Balzano was reported around 4:30 p.m. Firefighters from Lake Carmel, Carmel, Kent and Brewster arrived to find heavy smoke inside the gray-sided ranch-style home, said Robert Shannon, assistant fire chief in Lake Carmel.

The fire appeared to have started in the kitchen of the single-story home and was moving down a hallway when firefighters arrived, officials said. It also caused extensive damage to an enclosed porch off the kitchen.

Shannon said it took about 10 minutes to knock the fire down. Firefighters then spent the next hour or so overhauling the house, checking for hot spots in walls and in the roof to ensure the fire did not spread. Putnam County fire investigators were on the scene, attempting to determine where and how the blaze started.

Firefighters cut holes in the roof and were forced to break some windows to allow the fire and smoke to vent. Balzano arrived home to see the smoke and flames. She was visibly upset and was comforted by neighbors and police. Authorities said Balzano would have to make arrangements to stay elsewhere because the fire left the house uninhabitable.