Firefighters have their hands full this afternoon with a blaze at 304 Midland Avenue. Eyewitnesses say they heard a loud explosion as the smoky fire began. The fire was first reported around 1:15 this afternoon and firefighters from Port Chester are being assisted by the Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Stamford and White Plains Fire Departments. 

The blaze is at a single family home that reportedly houses several families. The American Red Cross is assisting.

No injuries were reported although heavy, billowing smoke could be seen from at least a mile away.

Should local politicians be compensated for their work?

Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla is proposing to do away with the Mayor's salary in the village.

The proposal will be discussed at tonight's agenda.

Pilla actually tried to do the same in 2007, but the salary, which comes to about $12,500 a year, was later restored for procedural reasons. This time, Pilla is running for re-election against Village Trustee Bart Didden on March 15.

Port Chester's head of the Department of Public Works has resigned.

Gary Racaniello was suspended without pay earlier this month after officials alleged that  he and other DPW employees pocketed  cash from the village's parking meters and machines.

An investigation by the Village revealed the possible scheme after discovering that it took in less parking revenue than it typically averages.

Grieving members of the Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies gathered today; for Sunday Services their church  in the Bronx to mourn the loss of their Pastor and his wife, both residents of Port Chester, who were killed in a horrific van crash on the New York State Thruway Saturday afternoon along with four other church members. Eight others were injured, many of them critically.

The dead include the Church's Pastor, Bishop Simon White and his wife Zelda White of Port Chester. The injured are being treated at Westchester Medical Center, Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx and at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. Many are reported in critical condition.

A fast-moving fire left a home in Port Chester severely damaged.

Port Chester Fire officials say the blaze broke out Tuesday morning at the home at 17 Willow Street.

A woman living in the building noticed the smoke and flames and alerted workers doing some plumbing on the first floor. The fire is believed to have started near the top portion of the multi-family building.

Nine people were in the building at the time and were able to safely evacuate.

Former Harrison Police officer Ralph Tancredi is due in Port Chester Town Court tomorrow to answer to charges of drug possession , impersonating a police officer and disorderly conduct. Tancredi is the former head of the Harrison PBA who was fired last year following a string of lawsuits he filed against his former police force.

A Port Chester man is under arrest, charged with six counts of felony DWI for allegedly driving drunk with six kids in the car.

Lt James Ledearious says police stopped to assist  a vehicle that had been pulled over on Grace Church Street due to a sick child in the car on May 6.  Officials say it was then they  discovered 21 year old Marcos Venegas  of  North Regent Street , smelled of alcohol as did three of the kids in the vehicle. The kids, aged 13, 15 and 17 were transported to Greenwich Hospital where they were evaluated.

Lt. Ledearious says the group had been returning from an outing at Rye Beach around 8 p.m. when the driver pulled over.  Venegas has been charged with six counts of Felony DWI under Leandra's law. He was released on $1,000 bail and is due back in court June 11.