The initial call was for a "couch on fire" at 5006 Ridge Road, Elba, but a chief on scene reports that actually, it's a riding mower outside the residence that is on fire.
Elba Fire is responding.
A motorcycle accident is reported between Pratt and Killian roads in East Pembroke.
A hand hip laceration is reported. Mercy EMS and East Pembroke fire are responding.
UPDATE (3:58 p.m.): Mercy Flight is requested. More manpower is requested to set up a landing zone in a hayfield located west of Killian and south of Slusher roads.
UPDATE (4:23 p.m.): Due to weather conditions, Mercy Flight is taking the patient to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
A fully involved farm tractor fire is reported at 5552 Cochran Cockram Road in Byron. It is in the middle of a field with no structures surrounding it.
Byron and South Byron fire departments are called to respond.
UPDATE (1:28 p.m.): The tractor fire is about a hundred yards from a house. The address is between Transit and Bank Street roads.
UPDATE (1:30 p.m.): The fire is knocked out but the fire units are requested to continue.
UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): A fireman reports that the fire has rekindled itself.
UPDATE (1:51 p.m.): The fire is reported to be completely out and the firefighters are leaving the scene.
A car fire was reported on the Thruway -- the car was being towed by an RV.
The RV driver was reportedly initially unaware of the fire. He under did eventually pull over at the Batavia off-ramp.
An assistant chief from the Le Roy Fire Department was in the area and heard Town of Batavia Fire being dispatched. He responded and knocked down the fire, which was reportedly under the car.
The motorhome was reportedly traveling along the Thruway for some time with the driver apparently unaware of the car fire.
There is a reported extension of the fire into the console. The vehicle has been disconnected from the motorhome.
A possible structure fire is reported at 27 E. Main St. in Le Roy, near Trigon Park. The caller reports the smell of smoke but nothing visible. Le Roy Fire and a medic are responding. A Bergen fire truck is also called.
UPDATE (1:45 p.m.): The Bergen truck is not needed. The residents of the apartment are not home, but firefighters checked the apartment and found nothing. However, a zoning officer is en route to inspect the premises.
UPDATE (2 p.m.): Le Roy medic is back in service. Le Roy Fire is also, having turned over the scene to the code enforcement officer and the property manager.
A straw fire has been reported on Britt Road near Keeney Road in Le Roy.
There's a small fire by the road and a "pretty good sized one" out in the field.
Le Roy Fire is responding with mutual aid from Bergen.
UPDATE 11:59 a.m.: Fires are out. Crews wetting down the fields for precaution.
At least three companies from Genesee County are responding to a barn fire in Albion at 13823 W. Barre Road.
Dispatched are units from Elba, Oakfield and Alabama.
UPDATE 4:53 p.m.: Additional Genesee County units are being activated. Town of Batavia may already have an engine at the scene, an additional unit has been dispatched to the Albion Fire Hall to fill in. An East Pembroke engine is requested to Elba to fill in. Byron has also been dispatched. Orleans County firefighters are reportedly dealing with multiple incidents right now.
(Update II at 2:19 p.m.)
A late night fire at a Presbyterian Church on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation may have been deliberately set, according to Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator for Genesee County.
The fire is under investigation by the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, the Alabama Fire Department and Yaeger's office.
Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster said the fire was spotted by a person driving by the church who saw an orange glow through the windows. He turned around, confirmed the fire and called dispatch at 11:05 p.m..
"It's on the further recesses of the reservation," Brewster said. "I'm surprised somebody was out driving by that church that late. Not a lot of people drive through there at 11 o'clock at night. It's very remote."
Quick action by three Alabama Fire chiefs who arrived on scene at the same time kept the fire from causing more serious damage.
Chief Bill Schutt said he and assistant chiefs Andy Merkel and Gary Patnode realized shortly after arriving on scene at 6978 Meadville Road that the biggest fire was confined to a piano, so they used extinguishers to put it out. They dealt with some additional flames using water in an ice cooler that had been left in the church. A fire hose was needed only to deal with some minor extension into a wall.
"Minimal water was used," Schutt said.
Brewster said whoever set the fire, set several small fires inside the building. No accelerant was used and because it was extinguished quickly, there was no structural damage.
The most serious damage was to the piano.
There are no suspects yet, though several church members and the original caller were interviewed. Because it's a church fire, and therefore a potential hate crime, ATF and the FBI were notified, per protocol.
Brewster described the church congregation as small and they meet only once a month with an out-of-town pastor conducting services. The church did meet yesterday.
"Our crew along with Indian Falls, who responded, too, did a good job," Schutt said. "It could have been much worse."
NOTE: I went to the scene to get a picture of the church, which is now boarded up, and when I spoke to a Tribal Council member, he said I couldn't publish the picture without council approval, and the earliest approval could be granted would be tomorrow. So, no picture.
A semi-truck reportedly has a brake fire and is stopped in front of the old Ponderosa restaurant at 12 Ellicott St., Batavia.
City Fire is responding.
A pole is reportedly on fire in the area of 36 North St., Le Roy.
Le Roy Fire and EMS being dispatched.
UPDATE 10:16 a.m.: It's a very small fire at the top of the pole. National Grid has been notified. Engine 63 is clearing the scene.
A truck's gas tank has reportedly exploded and the truck is on fire at 7154 Pine St. in Oakfield. There are no structures nearby. Oakfield Fire is responding.
UPDATE (3:30 p.m.): The fire is knocked out, says a fire chief.
A truck fire is being reported on Colby Road, south of Sumner, in Darien.
Darien Fire is being dispatched.
UPDATE 2:24 p.m.: A Pavilion chief on scene reports that the tractor-trailer is pretty much gone and suggested that requested tankers from East Pembroke, Corfu and Alexander won't be needed. There is a request for a grass truck to the location. The vehicle on fire is in the middle of a field without much vegetation.
UPDATE 2:56 p.m.: Fire is out.
UPDATE: The vehicle was not a tractor-trailer. It was a tractor.
A tree fire is reported at 9362 Putman Road, about 150 yards off the roadway, down a long driveway. The area is northeast of Transit Road. Town of Batavia Fire Department has been notified.
UPDATE (8:29 p.m.): The tree fire is not near any structures, but it is not yet known whether it is near other trees.
UPDATE (8:33 p.m.): The fire is in the brush underneath some trees, apparently from a controlled burn that got out of control.
An airplane engine is reportedly on fire at the Genesee County Airport.
The plane is on the ground.
Town of Batavia Fire is responding.
It's on the east runway.
UPDATE 9:47 p.m.: Engine 24 to proceed emergency, all other Town of Batavia units, non-emergency. Mercy EMS requested to the scene for victim with burn to his hands.
It was a house that was going to be burned to the ground at some point anyway, but East Pembroke Fire Chief Bob Yungsleisch didn't want to see it go like this -- in an unplanned bonfire.
For more than a year, area firefighters -- and even Batavia's SWAT team -- have been using a vacant house at 2881 Pratt Road as a training structure (here's a video we did last year of a training exercise at the house, which was donated by the previous owner specifically for training purposes).
On Monday, members of the East Pembroke Fire Department went to the structure to try a new helmet they've acquired. In order to create the right smoky environment, they put some straw in a burn barrel (a barrel intended to contain flames, but allow smoke to fill a training room), and lit it up.
After the helmet tests were completed, Yungsleisch said the fire in the burn barrel was doused with water and everybody left.
About 45 minutes later, Yungsleisch said a call came in -- probably about 9 p.m. -- that there were flames inside the house.
When he arrived, he found the flames contained to the burn barrel, and he extinguished the fire himself and notified dispatch that, "it's just the burn barrel."
As he and another person stood outside the house the other person wondered why there was so much smoke coming out of a second-floor window.
When Yungsleisch investigated, he found some papers on the second floor had ignited. He figures an ember had floated up there.
At that point, tankers from Oakfield, Pembroke, Batavia and Corfu were requested to the scene.
But Yungsleisch figured there was only one thing to do at this point -- let it burn. The firefighters called to the scene were there merely in defensive roles, to protect one nearby structure and the trees near the house.
It wasn't worth risking any firefighters to try and actually put out the fire, which burned for about two hours.
“It was a great house," Yungsleisch said. "I would have loved to have kept it another month or two, but I wasn’t about it send anybody inside.”
Photos by Destin Danser.
A vacant house is reportedly on fire at 2881 Pratt Road.
East Pembroke Fire was initially dispatched.
Tankers from Batavia, Corfu and Oakfield requested to the scene.
UPDATE 9:18 p.m.: Fire police requested to shut down Pratt at Powers and Miller roads.
UPDATE 9:48 p.m.: Alabama tanker requested to the scene.
UPDATE 9:52 p.m.: Alabama tanker not available. Pembroke and Indian Falls tankers requested to the scene.
A fire alarm has sounded in Area 1 of the Corfu Meadows Apartments, located at 53 West Main. St., in Corfu. Corfu fire department is responding with an engine and a rescue unit. Darien fire is on standby.
UPDATE (3:12 p.m.): Darien Fire Department is standing down.
UPDATE (3:15 p.m.): Corfu Fire Department is back in service.
City Fire has responded to a working structure fire at 9 Prune St., Batavia.
UPDATE 7:36 p.m.: When I left the scene around 6:50 p.m., firefighters were still on scene trying to get the last of the fire smoldering in the roof. A neighbor told me the fire started on a couch sitting outside that had been left out for trash, but not picked up, because it wasn't tagged. The fire got into the structure of the house by climbing up the wall behind the siding. Chief Craig Williams didn't think the fire had moved into the front of the house. It seem contained to the back attic.
We'll provide an update when more information is released.
More pictures after the jump:
An RV fire with heavy smoke is reported in a yard at 6854 Clinton St. Road in the area of Warner Road. It is near a barn and it is unknown if it is occupied. Byron, South Byron, Stafford and Le Roy fire and Mercy EMS is called to respond.
UPDATE (12:55 p.m.): The fire is contained to the RV and is under control.
UPDATE (by Howard): Fire crews cleared the scene at 1:41 p.m. The possible cause was a fan left on to air out the trailer. The motor may have overheated.
City Fire responded quickly this morning to a reported house fire at 4 Morton St., Batavia.
Lt. Jay Steinbrenner said when crews arrived, they could see smoke rising out of the chimney, which usually indicates a basement fire.
What firefighters found was a dehumidifier that malfunctioned, and quickly doused the small fire.
There was no structural damage.
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