fire

The City of Batavia Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at 33 Clifton Ave., Batavia, a little after 3 a.m., Thursday. 

Residents evacuated the single-family home prior to the fire department's arrival. Smoke was reported inside the residence.

City fire requested a second alarm and declared a working structure fire.

Crews from Alexander's Fast Team and Elba fire responded while the Town of Batavia was on standby in their hall.

According to Chief Napolitano with the City of Batavia Fire Department, a working fire was discovered in the basement.

"There was a mother and daughter along with a granddaughter in the house," Napolitano said.

"They received assistance from the Salvation Army, and the home is deemed uninhabitable at this time because of the damage in the basement to the furnace and the hot water tank and associated plumbing and electrical with those units."

One resident walked down the driveway holding a dog. According to City fire, several cats were still inside.

The fire was under control in about 30 minutes.

Chief Napolitano says the fire is currently under investigation and the cause has yet to be determined.

A tractor-trailer fire is reported on the Thruway in the area of mile marker 390.6.

The truck is fully involved and a trooper on scene reports the fire is starting to get into the trailer.

Town of Batavia fire dispatched. Mutual aid requested from Le Roy, Elba, and Oakfield.

UPDATE 2:27 p.m.: The westbound lanes of the Thruway are being shut down.

UPDATE 3:36 p.m.: Thruway assignment back in service.

A chimney fire is reported at 9420 Warsaw Road, Le Roy.

Le Roy fire along with Bergen dispatched. City of Batavia Fast Team requested to the scene.

The house is charged with smoke and there's fire in the ceiling, according to a chief on scene.

UPDATE 4:29 p.m.: City fire first platoon requested to headquarters.

UPDATE 4:36 p.m.: The fire appears to be out. Checking for extension.

UPDATE 4:54 p.m.: Bergen can go back in service.

UPDATE 5:13 p.m.: Le Roy back in service.

A power line is reportedly on fire on Otis Street in the City of Batavia.

City fire responding. 

UPDATE 1:31 p.m.: City fire on location. Smoke showing. It's a high-tension line against a tree, arcing and burning.

A structure fire with smoke showing is reported at 3 W. Main St., Village of Le Roy Hall. The location is just west of Clay Street. Le Roy Fire Department is responding, along with City of Batavia fire. The second platoon is called to city fire headquarters on Evans Street.

Stafford and Town of Batavia fire departments are also called to respond.

UPDATE 10:16 pm.: All second-alarm responders are back in service.

UPDATE 10:17 p.m.: Le Roy Fire Chief Tom Wood said the initial call was for an automatic smoke alarm -- smoke in the building. His first assessment determined smoke was billowing from the bell tower. The first crew on scene discovered a broken water pipe that was leaking onto another pipe and creating steam. Mutual aid was canceled.

A chimney fire that is said to be contained, though flames are showing, is reported at 6516 Keller Road, Pavilion.

The location is between Roanoke Road and Transit Road.

The family cannot evacuate because of an elderly resident.

Pavilion fire along with Le Roy and Stafford dispatched.

UPDATE 10:27 a.m.: The homeowner told a first responder he believes the fire burned itself out. Responders warned about road conditions.

UPDATE 10:28 a.m.: Working fire in stove pipe. It's contained to the pipe. The family being assisted with evacuation.

UPDATE 10:32 a.m.: No smoke in the residence.

A mother and her adult son lost their home at 6123 Cook Road, Byron, on Monday after a fire erupted inside the residence at 7:10 p.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Byron and South Byron responded to the fire with mutual aid from Bergen, Stafford, Elba, and departments in Orleans and Monroe counties. The City's Fast Team also responded.

Byron Chief Robert Mruczek said the house was fully involved when he arrived on scene and he immediately called for a second alarm.

The firefighting effort was hampered by the cold and the wind. With slick roads and fire hydrants buried in snow, it was difficult to get water to the scene, Mruczek said. A metal roof also prevented firefighters from opening vents.

"We were trying to go to the inside to knock it down as fast as we possibly could," Mruczek said. "That was hampered due to the weather conditions for our water supply, so we started to attack from the outside and then the wind kicked up. The wind did not help us."

The weather conditions made it tough on the volunteers who responded to the fire, Mruczek. A school bus was set up to provide a rehab station. Firefighters are rotated from fighting the fire to rehab about every 20 or 30 minutes so they stay fresh, stay hydrated, and don't risk hypothermia. 

"They work hard," Mruczek said. "You know, they do their thing. They're on the hose line. They're trying to get into the building and you've got to keep on rotating in and out because it's tiresome in the cold. You freeze up, the water freezes on you and you've got to exchange."

Both mother and son escaped the house and were physically unharmed. They are being cared for by the Salvation Army. They had no pets.

"It's unfortunate," Mruczek said. "It's sad. With the winter weather, these things happen and you try to do the best you can and you hope for the best. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. That's the good thing. Everybody's OK."

(Initial Report)

The fire at 6123 Cook Road in Byron, which was first reported shortly after 7 o'clock last night, has rekindled. Byron and South Byron fire departments are responding.

"It's going fairly good," says a first responder at the scene.

UPDATE 5:48 a.m.: A pumper and a tanker from Elba are called to provide mutual aid.

A house fire is reported at 6123 Cook Road, Byron.

It is apparently a chimney fire. 

Byron and South Byron dispatched. Bergen also dispatched.

UPDATE 7:16 p.m.: Flames showing. Second alarm requested.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 7:19 p.m.: It has gone to a second alarm. Stafford is asked to send one engine and one tanker to the scene; the city's Fast Team is called to respond and its fourth platoon is to report to headquarters.

UPDATE 7:35 p.m.: Byron and South Byron auxiliaries are requested to the scene.

UPDATE 8:15 p.m.: Bethany Fire Department is called to stand by in quarters.

UPDATE 11:31 p.m. (by Howard): All units back in service.

A kitchen fire, reported as a structure fire, is reported at 62 S. Main St., Batavia.

It's a lower apartment. Occupants are evacuating.

City fire dispatched.

UPDATE 12:22 a.m.: Police officers on scene report heavy smoke showing.

UPDATE 12:24 a.m.: A first responder says flames are showing at the back of the structure.

UPDATE 12:26 a.m.: "Small kitchen fire. Looks like it's extending into the cabinets. Have water on it now," says a firefighter.

UPDATE 12:30 a.m.: Fire is out; checking for extensions. Fourth platoon is called to city fire headquarters.

UPDATE 12:46 a.m.: Fire command requests Red Cross to aid two adults and four children who live in the apartment.

Bethany fire is responding to a fully involved truck fire, a pickup truck at 5426 Ellicott Street Road.

There was concern about the truck being close to a home, but the residents have the house closed up and no smoke is getting it. The structure does not seem to be threatened.

There was concern about power lines overhead but they don't seem to be involved.

UPDATE 10:26 a.m.: Route 63 is being closed in both directions.

UPDATE 11:45 a.m.: Route 63 is being shut down at Route 20. A first responder says, "until we get DOT out here to clear Route 63 we'll be out here all day." Another responder reports "visibility is getting bad."

UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: Plowing done, road reopened.

A bedroom fire is reported at 402 Bloomingdale Road, Basom.

Pembroke Fire, Indian Falls Fire, and Alabama fire dispatched.

The occupant was instructed to evacuate.

UPDATE 10:37 p.m.: A responding chief requests an engine from Akron.

UPDATE 10:46 p.m.: An Alabama chief reports the fire is out. Power is out to the house. Pembroke and Indian Falls can go back in service.

A mother and two young children were displaced from their home after a fire that started on a stove quickly spread to the kitchen leading to a burnt-out kitchen and extensive smoke and water damage to their second-floor apartment.

The mother and her children were at home at the time of the fire and evacuated safely.

City Fire Chief Steve Napolitano said the fire cause $10,000 to $25,000 damage and the apartment wouldn't be fit for habitation until the kitchen is rebuilt and there is extensive, deep cleaning in the rest of the apartment.

A downstairs apartment sustained minor water damage and the residents have been allowed to remain.

The fire was reported at 136 Pearl St., Batavia, just after 1:30 p.m.

"Crews did an outstanding job of containing the fire with little or no extension into the attic or the rest of the structure," Napolitano said.

The Salvation Army is assisting the mother and her children.

(Initial Report)

Submitted photos.

A stove fire is reported at 136 Pearl St., upper apartment, in the city. The unit is being evacuated. City fire is responding.

UPDATE 1:42 p.m.: Now the city's second platoon is requested to the scene "for the apartment fire."

UPDATE 1:50 p.m.: Fourth platoon is called to the station on Evans Street. Second platoon is paged a second time to respond to the blaze.

A fire was reported at 4080 Pearl Street Road, Batavia, the location of Summit Lubricants.

Town of Batavia fire dispatched and a chief on scene reported smoke but said that the sprinkler system appears to have put the fire out.

The building was evacuated.

UPDATE 10:28 a.m.: Fire is out. Starting overhaul.

A structure fire is reported at 3899 Ridge Road, Elba.

A second alarm sounded.

First responders report a working structure fire.

Elba Fire, Oakfield and Barre dispatched.

UPDATE 1:53 a.m.: It's reportedly an abandoned house. Town of Batavia requested to the scene.

UPDATE 4:11 a.m.: Video and photos added. The structure was vacant. A neighbor called in the fire. It was difficult to fight because it was a dead-end road making it harder to get tankers in and out of the area. 

UPDATE 4:14 a.m.: Elba command informs dispatch that the fire is pretty much out, "just working on some hot spots."

A fryer on fire is reported inside Burger King on West Main Street in Batavia. City fire just arrived on scene.

UPDATE 5:21 a.m.: "There was never any fire...we'll be clearing the scene," says city command.

A transformer may have exploded, causing wires to come down and starting trees on fire in the area of 857 Main Road, the location of Yancey's Fancy / Kutter's Cheese Factory, Pembroke.

Dispatchers have received a couple of calls reporting the incident.

Pembroke fire and Indian Falls fire dispatched.

UPDATE 1:39 a.m.: Pembroke and Indian Falls are back in service.

A structure fire is reported at 10 Maple St. in the city. Smoke is pouring from the second floor. An alarm is sounding; unknown if the structure is occupied. City fire is responding and it's gone to a second alarm.

UPDATE 6:21 p.m.: Firefighters searched inside and no one was there.

UPDATE 6:37 p.m.: The dog in the photo below was rescued from the structure and given air as a precaution for the effects of smoke inhalation.

UPDATE 10 p.m. (By Howard): The dog's name is Sadie. She is fine. The fire appears to have started with a space heater. There was no apparent structural damage, no extension to the walls or ceiling. There are three apartments in the building and only one was occupied at the time of the fire. That occupant was sleeping and was awoken by Capt. Marty Hinz when he arrived on scene. Nobody was hurt in the fire. Video at top of the story replaced original breaking news video.

A member of the Pavilion Fire Department who is assigned to fire police was driving near his residence on Pavilion Center Road this morning when he spotted a fire in a neighbor's garage at 10240 Pavilion Center Raod.

He immediately called in the fire but there were already huge plumes of black smoke pouring from the structure.

By the time the first fire units arrived, the garage was fully involved.

Chief Dewey Murdock said that despite it being a weekday on a holiday week, fire companies in Pavilion and mutual aid companies from Genesee, Livingston and Wyoming counties, were able to assemble crews quickly and arrive on scene shortly after the fire was reported.

That wasn't enough, however, to save the two-story garage built in the 1970s from total destruction.

The homeowner, Wayne Palmer, used the garage to restore old cars and a couple of cars were pulled out of the garage at some point.

No firefighters were injured fighting the blaze.

Multiple tankers were needed to provide water for the fire but there was never a water flow issue, Murdock said, because of sufficient crew members for the tankers, plenty of tankers on scene, and the proximity of Oatka Creek.

Murdock said the cause of the fire is under investigation but it may have started with a fuel oil burner.