Cause of fire that ripped through Hyde Park's historic Crumwold Hall under investigation
Town officials said the fire seems to have started on the ground floor around 8 a.m. Firefighters from at least five departments arrived with every resource available.
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A historic mansion in Hyde Park was still burning hours after it caught fire early Thursday morning, displacing 11 residents.
Town officials said the fire seems to have started on the ground floor around 8 a.m. Firefighters from at least five departments arrived with every resource available.
Neighbors of the 74-room, late-1800s house best known as Crumwold Hall told News 12 they woke up Thursday morning to the smell of smoke while they were still in their beds.
The building was turned over to a religious organization, Millennial Kingdom Family Church, in the 1980s.
The property has since been fenced off to the public, with the mansion sitting a few hundred feet off of Mansion Drive.
Firefighters were preparing late Thursday to stay overnight to monitor the scene.
All 11 residents escaped without injuries, the town supervisor said, though one police officer had to pull one of the residents out of a first-floor bathroom to safety.
The Red Cross was on scene to offer temporary accommodations to the residents, neighbors said.
Neighbors who woke up to the smoke and have been smelling it ever since said this disaster especially stings because they are proud of their local history and because the mansion's residents were good neighbors.
"I just feel for them, for the family," neighbor Scott Bernhard." Especially, if you know them, that's what makes this feel just awful."
The cause was still unclear late Thursday.
Forensics experts were not able to enter the home to investigate since it was still burning.
Town Supervisor Al Torreggiani said the town building inspector will visit the home Friday morning. He says that the home will likely be conde
