SARANAC LAKE - An unoccupied recreational vehicle parked next to a house was destroyed by fire late Wednesday night.
The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded to 514 McKenzie Pond Road at 11:25 p.m. with 10 members and four trucks. The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department sent three members and a tanker truck to the blaze.
Head Saranac Lake Fire Driver Rick Yorkey said the RV was fully engulfed, with flames shooting 50 to 60 feet into the night sky, when he arrived on scene. He said firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading to the home.
"It got close to the house, maybe 20 feet away," Yorkey said.
The blaze was eventually extinguished using 5,000 gallons of water taken from the tanker trucks on scene.
Andy McGill, the SLVFD's first assistant chief, said the RV was completely destroyed.
"There's no more roof or windows or anything else left in it," he said. "I would say it was a total loss."
McGill said the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Essex County Cause and Origin Team.
No one was in the RV when the fire broke out although its owner, Gerald Spoor, was home at the time, McGill said. No injuries were reported.
Yorkey said the blaze was initially reported by a neighbor and then several passersby.
Lake Placid firefighters were back at their station by 1:10 a.m. Saranac Lake firefighters had cleared the scene by 2:40 this morning.