WEST ONEONTA – Jean Marie Fink, 81, of West Oneonta, an active member of the West Laurens Fire Department and secretary to its board of fire commissioners, passed away unexpectedly in the comfort of her own home on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
Jean was born on May 11, 1938 in Sanitaria Springs, Broome County, a daughter of the late Kenneth and Clara (Tripp) Hill. On July 27, 1957, Jean married her lifelong love, Ronald Fink, Sr. in Oneonta.
Mount Upton Fire Department Capt. Jacob Barnes and Firefighter Tyler Dexheimer hose down the side of the home of Brian Madden, a retired SUNY Oneonta professor this afternoon at 287 West Hill Road, Morris. (James Cummings/AllOTSEGO.com)
By JAMES CUMMINGS • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
MORRIS – Brian Madden described the sound “like a firecracker.”
“I was spraying insulation into a hole in the wall where vermin were getting in,” said Madden, a retired SUNY Oneonta professor. “Apparently fumes of spray went under the furnace and caused a small explosion. Flames shot out and I called 911. The woman told me to get out immediately.”
The Morris fire department was dispatched just after noon to Madden’s 287 West Hill Road home. “The fire was coming through the roof upon Fire Department arrival,” said Victor Jones, assistant emergency service coordinator for Otsego County.
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