New Hartford First Responders Kept Busy with Two Incidents Thursday Evening

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NEW HARTFORD, NY – Two separate incidents in New Hartford on Thursday evening required immediate attention from first responders, leaving parts of the town dealing with power outages and traffic disruptions.

The first incident involved live electrical wires down across the North-South Arterial, leading to lane closures in both directions. The New Hartford Fire Department responded around 6:30 p.m., shutting down northbound traffic from Genesee Street to Wilbur Road. Southbound traffic was rerouted onto the Route 8 exit. The downed wires caused power outages that left nearly 4,500 customers in the New Hartford and Washington Mills areas without electricity. The cause of the downed wires remains unclear.

While responders were still handling the Arterial incident, they were dispatched to a structure fire at The Family Fun Factory in the New Hartford Shopping Center. A caller reported smoke coming from a vent inside the building. Upon arrival, crews investigated and determined that an overheated motor in a rooftop unit was the source of the smoke.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported in either incident.