fire

Investigators have determined that the fatal fire early this morning at 10 Davis Ave., Batavia, was caused by "careless use of smoking materials, i.e., cigarettes and lighters."

The fire, first reported around 2 a.m., took the life of 87-year-old George A. McConnell.

McConnell's wife, Candace McConnell, was not injured in the fire.

George was apparently unable to exit his second-floor bedroom after the fire started. Candace made her way to the first-floor back porch and was assisted from the house by Officer Darryl Streeter.

The fire investigation was conducted by the Batavia Fire Department and the Batavia Police Department.

Previously: Fire on Davis Avenue claims life of 87-year-old resident

Power lines are reportedly sparking along Route 77 near Cohocton after a dump truck hit them.

The driver is out of the vehicle.

Corfu fire is responding.

The Friday morning after a fire destroyed key components of the feed-making process at Baskin Livestock, one of Bill Baskin's newest hires walked into his office. He was certainly wondering if he still had a job starting Monday morning.

"I said, 'Joe,' " Baskin said, " 'Don't worry about it. Come here Monday. You've got a job.' "

Baskin hired two new workers last week and both, like his other 50 employees already on the Baskin payroll, all have jobs, he said. There will be no layoffs even though it will be months before the feed operation is fully operational again.

The feed portion of Baskin's business involves collecting waste from large bakeries operating throughout the Northeast, drying it (if it's not dry), separating it from packaging (if it's packaged) and grinding it into grain that can be used as feed for cows.

Baskin Livestock processes 1,500 tons of feed each week.

The company has hardly missed a beat since Thursday night's fire. Trucks keep bringing in waste product and Baskin has lined up agreements with three other similar operations to buy the waste Baskin collects and sell him back the finished feed, which he can then sell to his customers.

There's been some lost sales in the immediate aftermath of the fire, Baskin said, but the procurement side of the business has continued nonstop.

"Procurement is important because a place that is making cookies or donuts or cakes, if they can't get rid of their waste, they have to shut the plant down," Baskin said.

We may never know how the fire started.

The ignition point was somewhere in the area of the equipment that screens and separates material for feed.

"Was it in the fan, was it in the cyclone, was it in the compactor motor? I can't tell you, but that's where the fire started," Baskin said.

Ironically, Baskin was just four weeks from finishing the installation of new equipment that would have pretty muck taken the equipment where the fire started out of production.

"If that was the case (the new equipment in place), the part that failed, whatever part it was that failed, would not be in use," Baskin said.

Baskin hasn't sat down and totaled up the cost of the damage yet, he said, but it's probably approaching seven figures and could exceed a million dollars.

That doesn't count temporary lost sales and the big cut into profit margins while his feed is being processed in out-of-state plants.

The big unknown is how much damage the main building, the warehouse, sustained. It will take a battery of structural tests on the I-beams and foundation to determine if the building is still structurally sound.

"Our structural engineer who designed the building said it's all a function of how hot it got and how fast it cooled," Baskin said.

"You don't want to have a two-foot snowstorm," he added, "and have your roof sitting on your equipment."

The other irony of the fire, Baskin said, is it started in the screening area of the process, not with the burners.

The fire that severally damaged Baskin Livestock five years ago started in the burner and the current system is built with state-of-the-art fire-suppression technology.

If the burner detects even an errant spark it ejects the product being dryed onto a cement pad outside the building and the system is deluged with water.

"We've got so many safety features built in on the drying end because you figure you're running 1,400 or 1,500 degree burner to dry this feed, 25 million BTUs, with all kinds of opportunities for failure there, so everything is designed around that," Baskin said. "Then we've been running this (the screening area) for years without a problem and that's where the failure was."

Baskin had just climbed into bed when he got the call from an employee that there was a fire and when he and Susan looked out their window, they could see the glow.

Baskin jumped in his car and rushed to the plant. He immediately got an a skip loader and created a fire break in the warehouse, moving product on the floor away from the burners and the north side of the building to slow the opportunity for the fire to spread to those pieces of critical and expensive equipment.

When firefighters were on scene and had sufficient water supply, he implored them to fight an interior fight in the warehouse to keep the fire from spreading north, and the strategy appears to have worked.

Baskin is grateful for the support of so many people in the community, the close friends he and his wife, Susan Blackburn, have made in the 21 years they've lived here. He also praised the Bethany Fire Department in particular, but all of the departments that responded to the fire, for their hard work and dedication to their jobs.

Even his customers have set aside hard-nosed business negotiation to offer their support and express their desire to keep doing business with Baskin Livestock.

"The bakery people say we're glad you're OK because you're really important to us," Baskin said. "I've had customers say we can cut back a little bit but we really want to keep your product in our product flow. What can you so to help us get through until you're back full steam? It's gratifying that at the end, after you're done fighting over price, fighting over product, there's that kind of concern."

He's told his employees not to worry about their jobs, that Baskin Livestock will be a bigger and better company once the plant is fully functional again.

Baskin estimates the plant will be 75 percent operational by Christmas and up to 100 percent by March 1.

In an interview Monday, Bill Baskin was all business talking about his business, but when asked what was different or what was the same about this fire and the fire five years ago, Baskin said there was a key similarity between the two fires -- and this is when he got a tad emotional -- that nobody was hurt.

"I couldn't have been through it once, much less twice if anybody got hurt," Baskin said. "The rest of it can be replaced. It can be rebuilt and be bigger and better or whatever, but for me, that's the take home. Nobody got hurt."

Top photo: Bill Baskin, right, meeting with an insurance adjuster Monday afternoon.

Here's the slide show we published Friday morning of Thursday's fire:

Davis Avenue is a quiet street tucked in a corner of Batavia between Franklin Avenue and Williams Park.

The residents tend to be homeowners who have lived on Davis as neighbors for many years. They all know each other, said Officer Darryl Streeter.

As word spread early this morning that 87-year-old George A. McConnell did not make it out of his house at 10 Davis Ave. before the back of the structure became engulfed in flames, the shock and grief was apparent among the neighbors who watched the scene on a cold and snowy night.

"It's a very tough situation," Streeter said moments after comforting a neighbor.

Streeter was the first emergency responder on scene. He found George's wife, Candace, on the back porch trying to get out.

"I made entry into the house and got to the main kitchen, living room area and tried to make it upstairs but the smoke was too intense," Streeter said. "I stepped out, tried it a second time, but I just couldn't get any further than the kitchen itself."

At that point firefighters arrived and the back area of the second floor -- where George's bedroom was located -- was fully engulfed in flames.

The fire was knocked down in less than 20 minutes but firefighters found it difficult to make entry into the house because of what Chief Jim Maxwell characterized as "clutter." 

"It was quite a chore getting through everything," Maxwell said.

The cause or origin of the fire has not yet been determined.

Candace McConnell, who is 61, was uninjured and was taken in and being assisted by a neighbor.

George McConnell was born Dec. 25, 1925.

A house fire with a man trapped inside upstairs is reported on Davis Avenue in the City of Batavia. It was called in as a living room on fire. The house is filled with smoke and a responder on scene says flames are showing. A female was able to get out the back door, but her husband remains upstairs. Mercy medics are responding along with city fire and police. Smoke is now reported coming from the upstairs rear of the house.

UPDATE 2:16 a.m.: The second, third and fourth platoons are called in.

UPDATE 2:17 a.m.: The Alexander Fire Department's Fast Team is called.

UPDATE 2:20 a.m.: Darien fire's cascade equipment is called in and Town of Batavia is asked to stand by in its quarters. A second ambulance is requested.

UPDATE 2:22 a.m.: City command reports high temperatures inside the house, which is filled with smoke. Additional manpower is called to handle traffic.

UPDATE 2:24 a.m.: The traffic detail is for Alexander, to direct traffic at routes 20 and 98.

UPDATE 2:29 a.m.: Most of the fire is knocked down, but flames are still showing on one side of the house. The man has not been extricated. Flames are going through the roof in the center of the structure. Davis Avenue is between Williams Park and Franklin Street.

UPDATE 2:39 a.m.: Firefighters were able to gain access to the upstairs about five minutes ago.

UPDATE 2:43 a.m.: The fire is knocked down. They are starting to overhaul the structure.

UPDATE 2:46 a.m.: National Grid has arrived to cut power off, but can't access the scene yet because of the number of fire engines there.

UPDATE 4:15 a.m. (by Howard): George A. McConnell, 87, did not survive the fire. He was in bed on the second floor of the house in the rear where the structure sustained the heaviest damage. He was unable to get out and the area was heavily involved in fire and smoke by the time the first crews were on scene. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. McConnell's wife, Candace, 61, was not injured. A full story is coming.

UPDATE 4:21 a.m. (by Howard): Fire command is requesting six cat carriers to help contain multiple cats. Animal control is not yet on duty. Dispatchers will see what they can do.

UPDATE 4:24 a.m.: Darien fire is clearing the city's scene. The chief is returning to the Route 20 accident. The truck is returning to have its cascade system topped off.

UPDATE 4:53 a.m.: Photos below submitted by Frank Capuano.

UPDATE 5:15 a.m.: Town of Batavia going back in service.

There isn't much new to report from the overnight fire at Baskin Livestock in Bethany.  I was out to the property this afternoon and firefighters were on scene dealing with hotspots and flare-ups.

Bethany Fire Chief Jeff Fluker hadn't even been home since arriving on scene shortly after 11 p.m. last night. He started to leave early this morning and then there was a small fire that broke out in the cyclone (it separates packaging from discarded baked goods).

I interviewed Fluker, but my phone died in the middle of the conversation, so no direct quotes here, working off memory.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

The main structure is largely intact, but it's too soon to estimate the extent of the damage and how much of the feed-processing equipment was damaged, but some of it was damaged.

We spoke about the water supply, which was definitely a problem, but for a fire this size, he said, with three ladder trucks going, even a public water supply would have a hard time keeping up. It takes 10 tanker trucks to service one ladder truck.

A tractor-trailer hauling livestock is reportedly on fire on the westbound Thruway. It's near mile marker 380.5 and was initially reported as a brake fire, but now the rear end of the vehicle is said to be fully involved.

A fully involved structure fire is reported at 9778 Creek Road in Bethany. Bethany and Town of Batavia fire departments are responding. It is near Putnam Road.

UPDATE 11:07 p.m.: Mutual aid is called from Byron, Alexander, Pavilion, Stafford, the City Fast Team, and others.

UPDATE 11:30 p.m.: Calls are out for East Pembroke, Le Roy, and Elba.

UPDATE 11:34 p.m.: A tanker from York is called to the scene and an engine from there to the Bethany hall, along with the same equipment from Caledonia. National Grid is notified about power lines at the site and there's a 15-20 minute ETA.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m.: The lack of public water is hampering the firefighting efforts at Baskin Farms and the main structure(s) on the property are in peril. South Byron is also on scene and National Grid has arrived.

UPDATE 12:24 a.m.: Oakfield is at Town of Batavia Fire Hall filling in. National Grid has cut all power to the grounds. A tanker out of Gainsville, Wyoming County, is called to the scene.

UPDATE 12:27 a.m.: The mandate -- more tankers, more water, more tankers, more water.

UPDATE 12:34 a.m.: Mutual aid from Perry Center is requested to fill in at Pavilion's fire hall.

UPDATE 12:36 a.m.: Equipment from Perry Barre is called to stand by in Elba.

UPDATE 12:38 a.m: Equipment from Clarendon is requested to fill in in Byron.

UPDATE 1:45 a.m. (by Howard): The fire is largely knocked down. A firefighter reports that there are no flames showing at this time. There's still lots of smoke. It's hard to say at this point how much of the main feed processing facility was saved.

UPDATE 2:12 a.m.: Bethany command reports the fire is out. Overhaul starting. Tankers will start breaking down.

UPDATE 2:26 a.m.: South Byron, the first company to be released from the scene.

A possible barn fire is reported on Prentice Road near Route 237. A passerby told dispatch is looked like an abandoned barn on fire. Stafford Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 5:07 p.m.: A chief near the scene says it looks like a rubbish fire off the roadway.

UPDATE 5:09 p.m.: The chief confirms it's a big pile of debris on fire; no one appears to be attending it.

UPDATE 6:07 p.m.: The fire is out. Stafford is back in service.

A possible chimney fire is reported at 368 Martin Road on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. The house is filled with smoke Alabama Fire Department is responding along with mutual aid from East Pembroke and Indian Falls. Akron is put on standby. The location is between Bloomingdale Avenue and Erie County's Scotland Road.

UPDATE 10:47 a.m.: A firefighter on scene reports the fire is contained to the fireplace, and they will need equipment to tear into it in an effort to keep it contained.

UPDATE 10:55 a.m.: Akron is told they can stand down.

UPDATE 11:03 a.m.: East Pembroke and Indian Falls are on scene along with Alabama.

UPDATE 11:14 a.m.: Indian Falls is back in service.

UPDATE 11:23 a.m.: The fire is out. Alabama command and other responders are back in service.

Power lines are reportedly on fire near the residence at 164 S. Main St., Batavia.

City fire being dispatched.

UPDATE 8:04 a.m.: City fire on scene. Fire seen on the lines. National Grid notified.

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A caller reports a "big leaf fire" at 4226 Big Tree Road, Pavilion.

Pavilion Fire Department is responding.

A chief is on scene. A Time Warner employee called it in and was unable to put out the fire himself with an extinguisher. It's unknown how the fire started. Nobody is home at the residence.

An apparently unattended brush fire in the area of Route 5 and Fargo Road, Stafford, is reportedly moving toward a house.

Stafford Fire Department is dispatched.

A fryer fire is reported at Burger King, 134 W. Main St., Le Roy.

Le Roy fire along with Bergen fire is dispatched. Le Roy Ambulance is also dispatched.

UPDATE 8 a.m.: Law enforcement on location. Reports fire out with an extinguisher. Bergen held in quarters.

UPDATE 8:09 a.m.: Le Roy chief is requesting notifications to health department and code enforcement.

UPDATE 8:52 a.m.: Le Roy back in service. Code enforcement on scene.

Residents of 6568 N. Lake Road have evacuated the structure after reporting smoke in the house from a possible electrical problem.

The call came in through Monroe County dispatch.

Bergen fire is being dispatched. Brockport ladder and a Churchville engine are in route.

A chief on scene reports nothing showing from the single-story ranch home.

UPDATE 6:04 p.m.: First Bergen crew arriving on scene, will be deployed to the basement with a thermal camera.

UPDATE 6:06 p.m.: A chief reports "a basement charged with smoke." Also, Mercy EMS responding from Batavia.

UPDATE 6:10 p.m.: Mercy's response cancelled. A firefighter reports, "basement's been checked. Everything's cool down there." Proceeding to check ground floor.

UPDATE 6:18 p.m.: Fans are being brought in to air out the structure. No cause found at this time.

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Town of Batavia's newest fire truck, Ladder 25, saw its first live firefighting Thursday at the large factory fire in Albion. Photo by John Spaulding, a Livingston County-based fire services photographer. For complete coverage of the fire and its aftermath, visit Orleans Hub and scroll down.

CORECTION: First structure fire. The truck was used in Ed Arnold Scrap fire. 

A fully involved car fire, with flames shooting out of the front end, is reported at 14 Lake St. in the Village of Le Roy near Bacon Street. Le Roy Fire Department is responding. It is said to have exposure potential to nearby structures and the surrounding homes have been evacuated.

UPDATE 12:56 p.m.: The fire is knocked down.

A person was treated for apparent smoke inhalation after a pot was reportedly left on a stove burner in an apartment at 18 Genesee St., Le Roy.

Le Roy Fire Department responded to the call after an alarm sounded in the apartment building. With a hallway seeming to fill with more smoke, and no immediate cause of the smoke yet discovered, a chief asked dispatchers to upgrade the call to a structure fire.

Bergen and Pavilion fire companies were dispatched.

Within seconds, a resident apparently emerged and reported the pot on fire, but said she had put the fire out.

Once it was confirmed that the fire was out, the second alarm was cancelled.

The resident was treated by Le Roy ambulance medics and Le Roy fire ventilated the apartment.

Le Roy fire is now back in service.

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Jim Bearce said he always worried about fire. He and his brother kept several fire extinguishers around their house at 7635 Telephone Road, Pavilion, just in case.

The extinguishers proved inadequate today for a fire that swept through their home at 2:30 p.m. With smoke filling the house, they took their dogs to their cars and called 9-1-1. By the time firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames.

It's unclear even tonight what Bearce and his brother might have lost and what might have been saved, but he was worried most about decades worth of recordings made in their music studio, important papers and his tools.

Since Bearce couldn't afford a fire safe, his 1/4 inch and eight-track tapes, along with important papers, were stored in refrigerators.

One refrigerator, which did contain tape recordings, was recovered, said Pavilion Chief Paul Dougherty, but the other is still missing and presumed destroyed.

Bearce and his brother Ken -- both musicians who played in touring bands for most of their lives -- set up a recording studio in the house. After switching to digital years ago, they've only recorded themselves, but they used to bring in other musicians to record starting in the 1970s.

Both are originally from Pavilion.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined but it appears to have started in the basement, Dougherty said.

The house was built on the side of a hill and the basement was at ground level in the back of the house and contained a workshop.

Jim and Ken had been working in the backyard cutting firewood and had been in and out of the basement with chainsaws prior to the fire starting.

"One of the chainsaws wasn’t working well, so I took it into the basement to repair it," Ken said "I took part of it apart and I came back out to start putting logs on the trailer and I heard my fire alarm go off in the basement.

"I walked back in there and it was basically full of smoke, particularly over in the left-hand side," Ken added. "I grabbed my fire extinguisher and shot it in there and it didn’t seem to do too much good. At that point we thought we’d better get upstairs and save the dogs.

"Jim braved the smoke and grabbed the fire extinguisher that was in the living room but he couldn’t do anything with it, because he was choking when he came out. So we just gathered up the dogs and threw them in the car and called the fire department.”

Ken said he had stored a couple hundred rolls of music recordings in the refrigerators. He also had thousands of dollars of tools because he works as a mechanic and painter.

Asked by a fire chief if the house was insured, Jim said he wasn't sure and the chief looked at him rather quizzically. 

"Well, I pay the premimum every month," Bearce said.

Bearce said when he called the insurance company a few months ago about insuring his tools, an agent on the phone said what they would do is increase the policy to cover up to $60,000 for the contents of the house. 

“I hope it covers everything,” Ken said.

Years ago, the brothers sold their good analog recording machines and went digital. Since then they've just recorded their own songs together. Last night, Jim took the computers to Rochester to have them rebuilt, he said, so the digital files are presumed safe.

Since the house is a bit set back in a wooded area with only a single, tree-lined driveway up a hill, it was hard to get apparatus close to the house to fight the fire, Chief Dougherty said, but with the fire moving so fast, there was never much of a chance to fight the fire internally.

By early evening, crews were on scene to knock the house to the ground with a backhoe.

Assisting Pavilion were Le Roy, Bethany, Bergen, Town of Batavia, Stafford, Caledonia, Perry, Alexander and Churchville filling in for Le Roy. Inmates from the Wyoming Correctional Facility assisted with scene clean-up once the fire was out. The Sheriff's Office also assisted at the scene as did the American Red Cross.

Ken Bearce talking with Bergen Chief Jeff Dodson, who was assisting with the fire investigation.

To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

A possible house fire is reported at 7635 Telephone Road. The homeowner called dispatch and said the house was full of smoke. Pavilion Fire Department is responding along with mutual aid from Le Roy. The location is between South Street Road and Asbury Road.

UPDATE 2:34 p.m.: The first responder says "I've got a lot of smoke." A second platoon is called.

UPDATE 2:35 p.m.: Mercy medics are also called along with mutual aid from Stafford, which is sending a tanker to the scene and a fill-in crew at Pavilion Fire Hall. The occupants are out of the home. The first floor is fully involved.

UPDATE 2:43 p.m.: Bethany is responding, too. National Grid is called. A power line is down and dangerously close to firefighters -- "about five feet away."

UPDATE 2:50 p.m.: Bergen is called as well as Town of Batavia. Caledonia, which is to fill in for Le Roy, will also be asked to help access or set up apparatus to aid the firefighters.

UPDATE 2:53 p.m.: National Grid is asked to expedite the response because "there are power lines down all over the place.

UPDATE 2:56 p.m.: National Grid has a 15-minute ETA. Firefighters can't access part of the structure until power is shut off. "There's a power line right in front of it, can't access the east side at all."

UPDATE 3:01 p.m.: National Grid is on scene.

UPDATE 3:04 p.m.: Wyoming County dispatched Perry to the scene. The power is cut off.

UPDATE 3:10 p.m.: Firefighters are told there is gunpowder inside the home along with guns and propane cylinders.

UPDATE 3:21 p.m.: Alexander is on scene.

UPDATE 3:41 p.m.: The American Red Cross is called to provide emergency assistance to one adult. Churchville is called to fill in at Le Roy's Fire Hall.

UPDATE 4:12 p.m.: Inmates from the Wyoming Correctional Facility are being transported to the scene to help.

UPDATE 4:20 p.m.: Brothers James Lawrence Bearce and Kenneth Vincent Bearce lived in the house, along with a couple of dogs, which they saved. Along with brother Jack, they were traveling musicians years ago and had a recording studio in the structure. Ken said he's not sure how much of their inventory of recording tapes are salvageable, ditto for tools that were kept in the basement.