The City of Poughkeepsie N.Y. Fire Department was dispatched for a reported structure fire on Lincoln Ave near Reade Place in the cities south side at 23:45 hrs on the bitter cold night of January 29,2009 This location is near one of the local hospitals (Vassar) and as several of the hospitals security gaurds were ending their shifts and going back to their cars, they spotted the flames and ran over to the house and alerted its occupants and led them to safety. When Firefighters arrived, they had heavy fire from a three story wood frame flat roofed multiple family dwelling..... There were initial reports that there still may be occupants inside but a quick search was negative and everybody was accounted for..... An interior attack was begun but the offensive operation was quickly switched to a defensive one due to the concern over the flat roofs integrity because of the heavy fire conditions on the third floor upon arrival and rapidly deteriorating conditions... Master streams were used to hit the main body of fire as well as protect the neighboring exposures which were approximately four feet from the fire building on each side.... The fire was contained to the floor/building of origin and the exposures received little or no damage from the fire. Poughkeepsie was assisted by the Arlington and Fairview Fire Departments.