Father helps children escape burning home after kerosene heater ignites fire

A family with four children lost their home this morning to fire after one of the children apparently knocked over a kerosene heater on the first floor.

The structure was not insured.

The father, Jesse Rosenbaum, suffered a minor back injury from jumping from the second floor. He was transported to UMMC for evaluation.

Before jumping, Rosenbaum lowered the four children from the roof over the front porch, helping them reach the ground safely.

None of the children were injured.

After the fire started, the children apparently ran from the first floor to the second floor. Investigators are unsure why the children went to the second floor rather than exit the house, but once they did, egress through the first floor was blocked by the fire.

The situation could have been much worse, said Pavilion Chief Paul Dougherty.

"They were very lucky to get out given that they ran to the second floor first," Dougherty said. "They could have easily been trapped on the second floor."

An instinct of young children, Dougherty said, is to run to a bedroom, where they think they will be safe.

The fire was reported at 10:10 a.m., when a passerby spotted flames and smoke. The initial emergency call went to Livingston County dispatchers.

The location, 8029 Telephone Road (Route 20) is less than a half mile from the county line.

The kerosene-fueled fire spread quickly and there was no hope of saving the structure by the time firefighters arrived.

“By the time we got here, fire was coming out almost every door and window, top and bottom floor," Dougherty said.

There was no attempt to fight the fire from the inside give how quickly the fire spread and that the first chiefs on scene were told everybody got out of the structure safely.

"Had somebody reported that there were still people inside that would have changed our thinking," Dougherty said. "Because this was not a life-threatening situation, and because the fire is already coming out to us, it kind of dictated an exterior attack."

Later in the fire, after firefighters were mainly dealing with smoldering hot spots, water supply became an issue. Pumper trucks were picking up water from a hydrant at Asbury Road, but the water pressure was low for some reason, even after Monroe County Water Authority was notified of the fire in progress.

The blaze was knocked down pretty quickly by Pavilion's engine, which has a brand-new compressor system to allow firefighters to use foam instead of water to fight a fire.

The foam doesn't evaporate as quickly as water and penetrates wood better, making for faster fire suppression.

The compressor just went into service Saturday.

"The foam system multiplies the capacity of the truck and we're able to get a much quicker knock down with a lot less water," Dougherty said.

Also responding to the fire were Le Roy, Bethany, South Byron, Stafford, Alexander, York and Caledonia with Bergen on standby. The Sheriff's Office, State Police, Mercy EMS and Genesee County Emergency Services provided scene support. City of Batavia's FAST Team also responded.

UPDATE: A little more information, and different information from a press release just put out by the Sheriff's Office. The press release says all four children were upstairs with Rosenbaum, age 26, when a 3-year-old went downstairs and discovered the fire. The home's owner is Teresa Martinez. She said the heater was operating when she left for work at 6:30 a.m.

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