United States (New York) - Fire consumed a portion of the city's architectural and culinary history Friday morning. Firefighters extinguished the blaze that devastated two of Troy's oldest wood-framed buildings housing a landmark hot dog stand and what is reputed to be one of the Capital Region's oldest tavern sites. Hot Dog Charlie's, which has served up mini-hot dogs in Troy since 1922 and Trader Ed's along with several apartments caught fire. They are located in buildings that date back 222 years in the city's Lansingburgh neighborhood.

Six people left homeless are being assisted by the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York. No one was hurt in the fire, police and fire officials said.

"These are some of the oldest wooden structures in the city. This is chilling," said Mayor Harry Tutunjian, joining several hundred local residents to watch firefighters from Troy, Cohoes, Green Island, Albany and Watervliet battle the inferno. The adjoining wooden buildings housing Hot Dog Charlie's at 626 Second Ave. and Trader Ed's at 630 Second Ave. were built in 1787.

The fire apparently started in a grease hood at the rear of Hot Dog Charlie's. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

"It's a hard fire to fight. It's spreading horizontally," Troy Fire Chief Thomas Garrett said as fire crews fought to contain the flames in the two-story buildings. The blaze broke out about 10:30 a.m. and was under control by noon. Firefighters remained at the scene to check for hot spots.

Many of the firefighters, including Garrett, who responded to the alarm had been in Albany attending the funeral of Albany Deputy Fire Chief David Tidings when the call came in.

Hot Dog Charlie's owner Chuck Fentekes stood stunned across Second Avenue watching his landmark eatery succumb to the flames. It was the second disaster to strike the small regional chain in two days. On Thursday, the Cohoes store was flooded when an intense downpour dumped several inches of rain within a few hours.

"I didn't expect it. This is our commissary store. This is where we make our sauce," Fentekes said referring to the chili meat sauce sold with the wieners.

Fentekes said city inspectors came to look at the building and determined it was salvageable.

"The trusses, they're big and old trusses so they're still good," said Fentekes who plans to rebuild. "I'm just going to need a new roof and second floor."

On the second floor were vacant apartments, he said. The first floor, where there was a 40-gallon steam kettle, sustained a lot of water damage.

Hot Dog Charlie's moved into the Second Avenue location in the early 1970s. Fentekes is the third generation of his family to operate the business that opened in 1922 by Strates Fentekes, a Greek immigrant. Originally called New Way Lunch, the name was changed after customers started calling Fentekes "Charlie."

Steve White watched the fire too. White, 26, had just moved into an apartment above Trader Ed's on Thursday and has worked for the last two years at the Hot Dog Charlie's next door. White was in his apartment when the fire broke out.

"I'm suppose to be working at this moment," White said. "Everything I owned is in the apartment."

Valerie Eriole, one of White's new neighbors, also was home when disaster struck.

"We could smell the fire," she said.

Eriole fled the apartment, leaving behind her cats Droopers and Kink. A firefighter rescued Droopers.

"It's hard to lose everything, but to lose your animal is really bad," Eriole said.

Terry Frederick, manager of Trader Ed's, said the building has been used as a pub or tavern since it was built in the late 18th century at the corner of Second Avenue and 117th Street.

The buildings are located in a viable business strip along the avenue. Traffic was detoured around the fire scene by police, who shut the avenue off to traffic.

"This whole block goes back a couple of hundred years," said Councilman Mark Wojcik, who represents the neighborhood. "This is a valuable commercial block."

Photos by HotDogCharlies.com
Written by Times Union