fire

A brush fire has been reported in the area of 7116 Junction Road, Pavilion.

Pavilion Fire Department is dispatched along with mutual aid from Le Roy and York.

The fire is "in some cattails and leaves back in the woods," a first responder says. 

The fire will need to be fought by hand, the responder reports.

UPDATE 3:18 p.m.: Stafford's brush truck requested to the scene.

UPDATE 3:19 p.m.: Deputy requested to the scene to talk with the homeowner about burn laws.

UPDATE 3:22 p.m.: York can stand down.

UPDATE 3:26 p.m.: Stafford can go back in service.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: Fire mostly out, but quite a few hot spots left.

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A grass fire is reported at 8215 Batavia-Stafford Town Line Road. Stafford Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 5:29 p.m.: They are still trying to find the fire. Dispatch got two calls on this, one from a driver on the Thruway, and another from someone at GCC, who said the fire was across from College Village in a field.

UPDATE 5:46 p.m.: All Stafford units are back in service. No fire was located despite scouring several roads in the area.

A brush fire is reported in the woods behind a house at 7405 Reuben Road. Town of Alabama Fire Department is called to the scene. Oakfield Fire Department is called to standby in its quarters.

UPDATE 3:18 p.m.: Indian Falls and Pembroke are called in to provide mutual aid.

UPDATE 3:36 p.m.: Corfu requested mutual aid. Corfu's engine with its "deluge gun" requested to the scene. Firefighters are having a hard time reaching the fire through the woods.  A chief says, "the only way we're going to get back there is with a deluge gun."

UPDATE 3:42 p.m.: Fire is out. Chief says, "we're just wetting things down."

UPDATE 3:58 p.m.: All units back in service.

A brush fire is reported at 9103 Wilkinson Road in East Pembroke. The East Pembroke Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 2:54 p.m.: A brush truck from the Town of Batavia is requested for mutual aid but a firefighter familiar with the terrain says the blaze is in a swampy area and the truck won't be able to get through. They are working to find a solution. "You gotta lot of smoke showin'" ..."I don't know how we're going to get to it. It's going toward a house."

UPDATE 2:57 p.m.: They've "got to upgrade" to an engine from the Town of Batavia.

UPDATE 2:59 p.m.: Some responders have to wait for a train to pass before they can tackle the fire.

UPDATE 3:01 p.m.: A Sheriff's deputy is requested to the scene. The fire is believed to have started when someone lit some brush too close to a hedgerow and "it took off." This is "an illegal burn."

UPDATE 3:08 p.m.: Fire police from Corfu are called to shut down the roadway.

A brush fire behind a house in Bergen is burning a path to the woods. A large column of black smoke can reportedly be seen from the location, which is 7338 North Bergen Road. Bergen Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 2:14 p.m.: The fire is far from the roadway and will not be easy to reach. Brush trucks from Byron and Brockport are called to the scene.

UPDATE 2:17 p.m.: The homeowner says he is burning six to eight rows of hay. He says the location is remote. The mutual aid trucks from Byron and Brockport are cancelled. The fire chief is talking with the homeowner and the fire does not appear to be moving toward the woods.

UPDATE 2:28 p.m.: Firefighters are at the scene working to extinguish what remains of the controlled burn.

UPDATE 2:41 p.m.: The responders are back in service.

A grass fire is reported at 510 Bloomingdale Road in Alabama. Alabama Fire Department is called to the scene.

UPDATE 11:12 a.m.: "We've got it knocked down pretty good. We're all set." The assignment is being held to Engine One.

UPDATE 11:48 p.m.: The fire is out. Alabama fire is back in service.

There's a report of smoke on the first floor of Leisure Timers Apartments, 364 Bloomingdale Road, Basom.

Alabama Fire Department along with mutual aid from Indian Falls and Akron, is responding.

The residence has not yet been evacuated.

UPDATE 2:18 p.m.: Akron and Indian Falls put back in service. Alabama units still in route can respond non-emergency. Residence is evacuated.

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A barn fire is reported at 9262 Dorman Road in the Town of Batavia. It was possibly ignited when a motorhome caught fire. Town of Batavia Fire Department is responding along with a tanker from Alexander.

UPDATE 2:32 p.m.: The chief reports the fire is under control.

UPDATE 3:21 p.m.: All units back in service.

A grease fire in the kitchen of an upper apartment is reported at 134 Liberty St. City of Batavia firefighters are responding.

UPDATE 6:20 p.m.: Responder on scene reports nothing showing. "No fire at this time."

A "small, smouldering" fire is reported north of property at 2533 Brown Road in Pembroke. East Pembroke Fire Department is reponding.

What was once the home to a father, mother and their six children on Harvester Avenue was reduced to rubble Tuesday morning.

The house was badly damaged in a fire Sunday afternoon that started after one of the children was reportedly playing with a lighter in a back bedroom.

The family lost almost all of their belongings.

Owner and landlord Andy Young said the structure was insured. He doesn't have plans to rebuild on the property at 23 Harvester Ave.

A house fire is reported at 23 Harvester Ave. in the City of Batavia. Everyone has been evacuated. A State Trooper on scene reports smoke and flames are showing. City Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 1:53 p.m.: Everyone who was inside has been accounted for. The second and fourth platoons are called in. The fire began in the back bedroom of the wood-framed house. City firefighters have a convenient water hydrant nearby.

UPDATE 2:04 p.m.: There is "heavy fire" inside the structure says the chief.

UPDATE 2:10 p.m.: A responder (but not the chief) asks dispatch if a police officer can come to the scene and he's told that two are already there. But they're handling traffic, he says, and he needs someone to talk with the family. The family has information that "this is arson." An officer is responding to speak with the family.

UPDATE 2:39 p.m.: National Grid is called to the scene. No ETA given. Firefighters are continuing to battle the blaze. The American Red Cross is being contacted and will need to provide assistance to two adults and six children who have been rendered homeless by the fire.

UPDATE 2:44 p.m.: The Red Cross estimates it will be at the scene in about a half hour.

UPDATE 2:52 p.m.: National Grid is on location.

UPDATE 3:43 p.m.: The home is a total loss, according to a statement made by city fire Chief James Maxwell to WTBA's Dan Fischer, who was at the scene. Although the investigation is continuing, the initial indication is that the fire was started in a rear bedroom by a child playing with a lighter, Maxwell told Fischer.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.: City firefighters are back in service.

UPDATE 4:55 p.m.: Harvester Avenue is open to traffic now.

Photos by Dan Fischer, WBTA.

When Pete Tucci heard his dogs barking around 8:15 a.m., he thought he better take a look out his back window.

"It was like the sun had landed in my back yard," Tucci said, describing the big balls of flame bursting from the rear of his neighbor's house at 7167 W. Main St. Road, Le Roy.

"I went out my back door and I could feel the heat, like an octopus all around me, and there were huge flames, just a big blasts of flames," Tucci said.

Tucci was concerned that his neighbor and friend, Chuck Lathan, whose truck was still in the driveway, was trapped inside.

Le Roy Police Officer Daryl Robb knocked down the front door, but heat and smoke beat him back and he wasn't able to get into the house.

"It was just too thick to get inside," Robb said, adding, "If you don't try, you'll always second guess yourself."

Fortunately, Lathan wasn't inside. He recently started working day shifts, so he was at work, as was his wife, something Genesee County emergency dispatchers confirmed early in the fire.

Le Roy Fire, aided by Bergen, Stafford, Pavilion and Caledonia responded quickly to the fire once reported. (Churchville filled in at Le Roy's hall.)

Tucci said Stafford firefighters started spraying down his house to protect it from the fire as soon as they arrived on scene.

"They did a great job saving my house," Tucci said.

The cause and origin of the fire is yet to be determined, but early indications, an investigator said, are it started around the wood-burning stove in the house. 

The house is a complete loss, and possibly all seven cats owned by the Lathans perished in the fire.

"Chuck and Ellie are such great neighbors," Tucci said. "They're really sweet people, and they lost everything."

(Initial Report (including video))

If the slide show doesn't work right for you, click here.

A structure fire is reported at 7180 7167 W. Main St. Road just outside the Village of Le Roy. A Sheriff's deputy on scene said "It's going pretty good." All traffic is to be shut down. A neighbor tells an officer that a person may still be inside. Le Roy Fire Department is responding along with mutual aid from Pavilion, Stafford, Bergen and the Town of Batavia Fast Team.

UPDATE 8:41 a.m.: Caledonia is en route with five firefighters and they are directed to the scene.

UPDATE 8:45 a.m.: There is confirmation that no one is still inside the structure.

UPDATE 9:29 a.m.: The home, which is completely destroyed, is owned by Chuck Lathan. Seven cats perished inside. A wood stove is believed to have started the fire. A state trooper who was one of the first on scene said smoke was pouring from the chimney before the structure caught fire.

UPDATE 9:38 a.m.: The Le Roy fire chief reports the blaze is out and now crews are overhauling the scene.

UPDATE 11:31 a.m.: Video submitted by Charlie Maniscaclo, owner of Scooter's in Le Roy.

The Salvation Army thrift store at 19 Jackson St. in Batavia reportedly smells like smoke and it is being evacuated. The city fire department is on scene and reports nothing showing, but it is investigating.

Yet another false alarm of fire at College Village prompted two Town of Batavia fire engines to the scene. They found burnt food in one of the apartments. Well, burnt meatballs actually.

"The report should include meatballs," says a responder.

"What? Meatballs?" comes the reply.

"Yes, that would be meatballs."

"How do you burn meatballs?"

(But then again, when College Village occupants have been known to burn anything burnable, why not meatballs?)

"...I shouldn't be surprised," concludes the fireman.

Smoking wires are reported in the area of 9352 Snipery Road, Corfu.

The wires are down and between the residence and the railroad tracks.

Corfu Fire Department is being dispatched.

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A large plume of black smoke is reported across from 7653 Big Tree Road, near South Street Road. It is at the tree line at the back of the property and may be a controlled burn. It is believed to be tires burning. Pavilion Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 12:36 p.m.: The property owners are burning a bunch of brush and are keeping a close eye on it, said a firefighter on scene. Pavilion assignment is back in service.

A fire in a basement has been reported at 40 48 North St., Le Roy.

The caller believes the fire is out.

Le Roy Fire Department along with a ladder truck from Bergen dispatched, along with Le Roy Ambulance.

UPDATE 4:22 p.m.: Chief on scene. One engine from Le Roy requested, non-emergency. Bergen response is cancelled.

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Town of Batavia Fire Department was dispatched to the report of an unknown type fire at the end of Briarwood Terrace.

As Engine 21 was rolling on the call, an assistant chief arrived on scene and reported that Engine 21 could stand down.

"The homeowner is operating a fog machine," reported the chief.

"Copy," said a dispatcher, "homeowner operating a fog machine."

Second dispatcher: "That's got to be a first."

Town of Batavia fire, back in service.

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