fire

A firefighter suffered possible heat exhaustion and the family of a home at 70 Church St. in Le Roy has been displaced after a blaze that may have been caused by a discarded cigarette caused extensive damage to the residence.

We received an e-mail this morning from Chief Tom "Woody" Wood confirming the fire we first reported last night (thanks to notification of two alert readers).

The fire was reported at 11:15 p.m.

The firefighter, who is not identified, remains hospitalized this morning for observation.

Here's the full text of Wood's e-mail:

Last night's fire came in about 11:15pm.  First chief on location with a confirmed working bedroom fire.  An additional alarm was transmitted requesting one engine from Bergen and Pavilion to the scene along with Town of Batavia Fast team while Stafford did our fill-in.  At this time we are not releasing the names of the three occupants that were displaced and had to be relocated by the red cross.  Preliminary result indicate a POSSIBLE discarded cigarette.  One firefighter was transported to the hospital for possible heat exhaustion and currently remains there for observation.  The residence suffered extensive damage and the figured amount has yet to be determined. 

A house fire at 70 Church St. in the Village of Le Roy has been mostly knocked down, according to a county dispatcher.

Firefighers from Le Roy, Stafford, Bergen and Byron responded to the blaze.

No other information available at this time.

Thank you to two alert readers who e-mailed The Batavian about the late night fire. If anybody has any pictures, please e-mail or post.

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A reader sent an e-mail this afternoon asking why we didn't have information today on the full-engulfed house fire on Lake Road in Pembroke last night.

It was news to me. There was no press release, WBTA didn't have the story and neither did the Daily.

Tim Yaeger, office of Emergency Management, said the fire was a routine Monday night training drill.

"It was a house that was damaged in a fire last summer," Yaeger said. "It was used for training purposes."

Our reader writes:

I saw it burning, the entire place was engulfed. I have never seen a house go  up like that one seemed to. The flames were on the outside and going from the  ground up on every wall. Usually houses burn and have some part at least on  the outside without visible flames but not this one. It was a scary scene. 

Too bad we don't have pictures.

UPDATE: The picture below was submitted by Peter Sformo.

Fire units are responding to a reported grass fire in Pavilion at 1135 Wyoming Road. Crews on scene report the fire will be "knocked down in a second."

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Firefighters are responding to a reported car fire at 633 West Main, Monro Muffler and Brake.

A police officer on scene reports smoke and flames. The vehicle is some distance from the building.

UPDATE: Minutes after posting this, personnel on scene reported the fire appeared to be out. Firefighters arriving at the scene said they would hose down the vehicle.

NOTE: Originally, we reported this at 133, but it was 633 W. Main St.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m.: OK, this is really bad, and comical at this point in number of corrections -- First, 133 Main St. as originally reported was correct.  But it wasn't Batavia. I was LeRoy. But it was Monro, as originally reported.  This according to Chief Tom Wood of LeRoy FD.

A fire alarm was triggered at UMMC, 16 Bank St. Firefighters are on scene and investigating. No further information is available at this time.

Fire units are being dispatched to 6951 N. Bergen Road for a reported car fire.

Ironically, Google's "Street View" of the address puts a car right in front of the residence. We have no idea, of course, if this is the car.

Fire units were dispatched to 33 Ross St. for a reported fire in the basement of a residence.

When firefighters arrived, they found an overheated boiler, but no fire.

This is my interview yesterday with LeRoy 2nd Asst. Fire Chief Tom "Woody" Woods.

Woods was the chief overheard asking for more help yesterday, saying if he didn't help quickly, "we're going to lose this truck and us."

When I first spoke to Wood yesterday, he said it was quit a battle with the fire jumping out of the woods quickly before he and his crew beat it back.

Wood said the recent spate of brush fires have kept firefighters pretty busy and he said the only way the fire season is going to slow down is if people stop burning stuff.

Firefighters are scrambling to fight a fire near in the LeRoy/Caledonia area, with firefighters responding to Asbury Road and Flint Road.

One firefighter in asking for more manpower said, "They better get out here quick or we're going to lose this truck and us."

When a dispatcher asked another dispatcher about more crews responding, the second dispatcher said, "Send everybody you can get. They need lots of manpower."

I'm heading out that way now.

UPDATE 4:50 p.m.: The fire was declared under control at 4:09 p.m.  The fire was actually in Mumford, but LeRoy found the fire first (units were returning from covering another fire), while Caledonia was out covering an other fire. Crews from Genesee County (I saw trucks from Bethany, Pavilion, Stafford and LeRoy on scene and spoke with a firefighter from Bergen), Livingston and Monroe counties help battle the flames. The fire was contained to a wooded area that covers a couple of acres.  I'll have pictures shortly, and a video in a couple of hours.  The video is an interview with LeRoy 2nd Asst. Chief Tom "Woody" Wood, who found the fire and was the one mentioned above asking for more crews quickly.

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Most of my photos turned out to not be very interesting.  Here's this one (video TK).

Fire crews are responding to a field fire at 2893 West Main Road, between Hopkins and Powers.

The nearby house is not threatened, according to reports.

A controled burn reportedly got out of control at 9363 Warsaw Road in LeRoy.  Units are being dispatched now.

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A brush fire has been reported well behind the residence at 3693 Maltby Road in Oakfield.

Bales of hay on a truck are reportedly on fair in Bethany at 6025 East Bethany Le Roy Road. Crews are responding. A second alarm has been responded.

UPDATE 4:21 p.m.: I'm on scene on Hawks Road, where the truck with burning hay was moved to after firefighters determined the only way to extinguish the fire was to dump the load in an open field. The load has been dumped and crews are now poring water and bulldozing dirt onto the burning fire. The flames are few but the smoke is profuse.  I should have some video edited and uploaded in an hour or two.

UPDATE 5:15 p.m.: The fire is reportedly contained and crews are returning to quarters; however, the fire is expected to burn for a couple of more days until it burns itself out, generating much smoke at times.

UPDATE 10:30 p.m.: At the scene today I met Scott M. Kibler, 4th assistant chief for the Stafford Fire Department, and it turns out he's a regular reader of The Batavian. He sends along the following report and pictures from the fire.

At 3:10 PM the Stafford Fire Dept was called out to assist the Bethany Fire Dept. at 6025 E.Bethany-Leroy Rd. for a tractor trailer loaded with hay that was on fire. First ariving trucks on scene deployed hand lines and attempted to put out the fire with little success. It was determined that the load needed to be dumped in order to get at the fire and put it out. A suitable dump site was located about a mile away on Hawks Rd. in a empty field. Pavilion Fire Dept. set up a draft site on Fox Place in the town of Stafford and tankers were filled from there. A front end Loader was brought in by A.D. Call & sons and when the load was dumped it was pushed around and spread out so it could be watered down. I have not heard how the fire started yet but my guess would be from the exhaust stack on the truck. Trucks from Stafford, Bethany and Pavilion Responded to this incident.

The Sheriff's Office reports this morning that Thursday's fire in Village of Corfu, which damaged the former Pizza Pantry building at 10 Main St., possibility erupted after two teens inadequately disposed of cigarettes.

The press release says that further investigation may result in the teens being petitioned to Genesee Family Court.

The fire started at the rear of the building.

Fire units from Corfu, Pembroke, East Pembroke, City of Batavia, Oakfield, Darien, Alden, Crittenden and Akron responded to the blaze.

Two firefighters reportedly suffered minor injuries.

Units from Genesee and Erie counties have responded to a structure fire in Corfu at 4 Main Street, the former location of Pizza Pantry. 

An ambulance was called to the scene for a firefighter who reportedly fell in the building, but he exited safely and the extent of his injuries, if any, are unknown at this time.

The building is a two-story brick structure that was apparently gutted, but there is no significant exterior damage.

The initial call came in at about 12:35 p.m.

Dan Fischer at WBTA is also working on getting information on the fire.  Updates as they become available.

UPDATE 1:50 p.m.: Tim Yaeger says the firefighter mentioned in our first report is fine. He was treated and released. A second firefighter was struck by a piece of equipment and broke a tooth.

Linda Doll of Corfu says she called in the fire. She was returning from a funeral in Batavia when she saw smoke as she pulled into the village. As soon as she turned onto Main Street, she saw flames coming from the back of the building, she said. She immediately called 911.

UPDATE: The following photo was submitted to The Batavian by James F. Gerber, photographer for the Alden Fire Department.

UPDATE: Joanne Beck reports that the cause of the fire is suspicious.

The cause remains under investigation. Yaeger said it started on the outside of the building, and a witness reported children in the area.

BATAVIA, N.Y. -- It's a great day to BBQ, but apparently some people haven't brushed off the cob webs of winter and reminded themselves cooking out doors.

About 1:35, a resident on Bank Street saw flames from an enclosed area in a neighbors back yard and called dispatchers with report of a fire at 117 Bank Street.

Batavia fire crews responded promptly and found nothing more than a beginning-of-spring bar-b-que in progress.

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An "out of control" grass fire is being battled at 3186 Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road.

The fire covers an estimated two acres and additional crews have been request.

No report on whether any structures are threatened.

UPDATE 2:58 p.m.: I'm on scene. Fire seems pretty much under control. Manpower-only crews were called in from Stafford and Pembroke (Pembroke's brush truck was reported out of service). The fire started as a controled burn, according to homeowner Michael Cusmano. "It just took off," he said. I'll post a picture or two shortly. Also, there is another reported brush fire near Stafford (I didn't catch the exact address) and a grass fire at 10346 Hartwell Road in Pavilion.

UPDATE 3:45 p.m.: I didn't make it out to the Pavilion fire. It sounds like it's under control at this point. Some crews are returning to station.

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A brush fire was reported in Elba at 4819 Hundredmark Road at about 10:30 this morning.

While the fire is near a structure, the structure does not appear threatened at this time.

A fire that was supposed to be a conrolled burn got out of hand and became a blaze that required four engine companies to respond.

The fire consumed a barn at 7411 Oak Orchard Road, but apparently not the one intended to be destroyed, reported WBTA on it's afternoon news.

I was unable to get to the fire this morning.

Here's a map of the location: