fire

A fully involved car fire has been reported on Park Avenue near Judge Road in Oakfield.

Oakfield Fire is responding.

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Robert Griffin said he was leaving the Dollar General about 3:45 p.m. when he heard a pop and then smoke started billowing out from under the hood of his car.

City Fire responded and quickly doused the small fire.

A chimney fire, with fire outside the chimney, has been reported at 1840 Lewiston Road, Basom.

Alabama Fire has been dispatched. Oakfield is being asked to standby at the Alabama Fire Hall.

UPDATE 11:33 p.m.: A chief reports no flames showing.

UPDATE 12:18 am.: "Chimney clear. Fire out."

UPDATE 12:33 a.m.: All Alabama units back in service.

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A small, unattended grass fire has been reported in the area of 9754 Transit Road.

The call was initially sent to Stafford Fire, but the fire may actually be on the other side of the road, in Bethany's district, so Bethany Fire has been asked to respond as well.

UPDATE 2:53 p.m.: A chief on scene has confirmed it's Stafford district.

UPDATE 3:00 p.m.: Now they say it's in the Bethany district.

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A "rather large fire" has been reported in the area of Merriman and Cook roads in Byron.

Byron Fire has responded and Elba Fire is providing mutual aide. It's unclear at this time what type of fire it is.

UPDATE 8:51 p.m.: The property owner has been located and he said this is a controlled burn. There is still some concern that some piles are burning close to a wooded area.  Firefighters continue to respond.

UPDATE 10:14 p.m.: This remains a working incident.

UPDATE 10:41 p.m.: Bryon chief just said, "let's pack up and go home."

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Indian Falls and Pembroke Fire are responding to the report of a wire down in the area of 1448 Indian Falls Road.

It has caused, reportedly, a very small grass fire.

Stafford Fire is being asked to respond to a large controlled burn at 6002 Griswold Road that needs to be extinguished.

Law enforcement is also being dispatched. The fire may be outside of new controlled burn regulations.

Stafford units are responding Code 2.

10:02 p.m.: Stafford units being put back in service.

10:20 p.m.: The pile of wood (possibly an old barn) would take significant manpower to extinguish, so an assistant fire chief and a DEC officer have advised the land owner he will need to watch the burn all night. All remaining Stafford personnel back in service.

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All equipment has been requested to respond to a possible chimney fire at 5500 Broadway (Route 20) in East Bethany.

Bethany Fire has been dispatched.

UPDATE 7:30 a.m.: Alexander Fire responding mutual aid. The caller indicates seeing sparks. There is apparently a wooden bridge on the driveway that will prevent heavy equipment from driving up directly to the house.

UPDATE 7:41 a.m.: Several units on scene. Hand tools requested to possibly open a wall. No word yet on extent of the possible fire.

UPDATE 8:00 a.m.: Firefighters can see some coals somewhere down the chimney, but no flames reported.

UPDATE 8:08 a.m.: Some units being put back in service.

UPDATE 8:12 a.m.: "Everything is out and cleaned up." Bethany back in service.

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A chimney fire has been reported at 883 Silver Lake Road, Pavilion.

Pavilion Fire has been dispatched.

UPDATE 11:29 p.m.: Heat seems primarily at the top of the chimney.

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A caller is reporting smoke coming from house fixture at a residence on 11 Buffalo St., Bergen.

Bergen Fire, a ladder truck from Le Roy and Churchville Fire are being dispatched.

UPDATE 2:14 p.m.: An assistant chief on scene reports, "Nothing showing."

UPDATE 2:18 p.m.: All residents are out of the building.  No determination yet on the nature or extent of the fire.

UPDATE 2:25 p.m.: An interior firefighter reports it appeared to be "a small partition fire." The fire appears to be out. They're not checking for extensions.

UPDATE 2:28 p.m.: Command reports still some smoke coming from a window. An interior firefighter said it was a small fire, but produced a lot of smoke.

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Sparks and flashes are reported coming from a residence in the Dreamland Trailer Park, 3522 W. Main St. Road, West Batavia.

The house is described as a white house with a fence.

East Pembroke Fire is responding.

An assistant fire chief on location, "nothing showing."

He reports the house to respond to is the main house in Dreamland.

He reports wires on a pole crackling, but nothing in the house. "I don't see anything, but I can hear it out here."

UPDATE 9:20 p.m.: Wires are reportedly arcing. National Grid requested to the scene. A standby from Corfu has been request to go to the East Pembroke Hall. Town of Batavia also requested to stand by.

UPDATE 10:02 p.m.: Town of Batavia told to stand down.

A possible structure fire is reported at 61 East Main St. in the Village of Corfu. Corfu fire is responding, others are standing by.

UPDATE 4:20 p.m.: All other departments but Corfu are asked to stand down. Apparently this was a dryer fire at a house. A firefighter reports: "The dryer is out of the house, checking the extension."

A snowmobiler in the area of Colby Road and Route 20 in Darien has reported finding a tractor on fire in a manure pile.

Darien Fire is being dispatched.

UPDATE: Darien chief reports a loader fully involved.  The fire is behind a barn where Darien had a hay bale fire a few years ago.

UPDATE 11:00 a.m.: Darien command reports the fire is knocked down. They're waiting on another tractor to pull the loader from the pile.

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A structure fire is reported near the north corner of South Main and Walnut streets, by the roundabout, in the City of Batavia. Smoke was said to be coming from a yellow house. But a fireman reports: "I'm in the area, I don't see anything yet."

UPDATE (12:57 p.m.): Fireman says "Nothing showing, We're clear here."

A barn fire is reported at 1156 Route 354 in Attica, located between Alleghany and Burrough roads in Wyoming County. Alexander and Darien are called to respond, including a fast team. Bethany and a unit from Alexander and Town of Batavia are requested to stand by at Attica Fire Hall.

A garage is reportedly on fire in the Village of Alexander at 10635 Main St.

Alexander Fire and Town of Batavia have been dispatched.

The original alarm reported both house and garage on fire, but now dispatch says it's just the garage and the house has been evacuated.

The Alexander chief has requested a second alarm.

UPDATE 11:11 p.m.: Darien is requested to send a tanker to the scene and an engine to stand by at the Alexander Fire Hall. Bethany has also been dispatched. 

UPDATE 11:14 p.m.: Route 98 is being shut down.

UPDATE 11:15 p.m.: There is a report of pesticides in the garage.

UPDATE 11:16 p.m.: "103 to 104, we've got exposure to both houses. We need to protect them."

UPDATE 11:28 p.m.: Personnel on scene report that there is heat damage to a house. He reports that the resident was working on a car in the garage with a space heater going. He went inside, came back outside and found the garage on fire.

UPDATE 11:32 p.m.: Reader Jon Dayton just sent in the picture now at the top of this post. He reports, "I was closing up my shop to go inside and saw flames rising above the  buildings on the East side of the Village of Alexander at about 10 minutes after 11. By 11:15 Alexander firemen had responded to a fully involved garage fire on Main Street."

UPDATE: Sheriff's Office reports the garage was owned by Paul Thomas Pilc, III. Pilc had been working in the garage, cleaning up his truck, because he had a meeting at work on Friday morning. He took a break and went in the house to use the bathroom and grab a bite to eat. At 11:03 p.m., his son told him the garage was on fire. When Pilc looked, there were flames coming from the back of the garage. Pile got his family safely out of the house and moved his car away from the garage. Pilc said he was using a kerosene heater that belonged to his brother's friend. He said it had seemed to be working fine. An investigation by Alexander Fire found nothing suspicious about the origins of the fire and concluded the likely cause was the heater. New York DEC was notified because Pilc's work truck contained pesticides.

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Mary E. Pawlukiewicz, who died last night in a fire at 132 State St., was warned just this past Sunday by fire officials about the dangers of smoking around her oxygen tanks.

That small fire Sunday was the second, and possibly, third smoking-related fire connected to the 57-year-old Pawlukiewicz.

In the summer of 2009, in the parking lot of Walmart, a car reportedly occupied by Pawlukiewicz caught fire and was destroyed. She sustained minor burns in that fire. Smoking and oxygen tanks were reportedly to blame for that blaze.

In 2002, there was a fire at 132 State St., but it hasn't been determined with certainty yet that Pawlukiewicz was living at the residence at the time.

There are currently no regulations requiring no smoking by patients using oxygen tanks.

At least one of Pawlukiewicz's tanks exploded last night.

As for the fire Sunday, Det. Rich Schuaf said at a press conference this morning that when the Fire Department arrived, the oxygen unit had been disabled, but its alarm was sounding and a tube had been disconnected.

"She reported that there was a fire, but it was out by the time the fire department got there," Schauff said.

Last night's fire could have been much worse, according to Schauff. A woman, Melissa Ricigliano, and her three children were just leaving at 5:45 p.m. to visit a neighbor. That was an unusual time for them to leave, Ricigliano reportedly told police. Normally, they wouldn't leave until 6 p.m., in which case her and her children would have been in their apartment not yet in a position to evacuate quickly.

Last night, as soon as Ricigliano opened her door, an alarm sounded and there was an explosion. She was able to quickly get her children, all under age 6, out of the building.

"She felt quite fortunate that her plans changed and she left early that day," Schauf said.

There was an attempt made to rescue Pawlukiewicz. Officer Chris Camp as well as witnesses tried to gain entry to the burning building, but the heat and flames were too intense.

Camp tried to enter through the front door and from a south side window, but couldn't get access.

"He was told there was a good chance that she was (still inside)," Schauf said. "The neighbor had a strong feeling she was there. She wasn't positive. She hadn't seen her that day, but she felt she should be in there. She was persistent that there was a good chance she was in there."

City officials are inspecting the building today to determine whether the other two families living there will be able to re-enter the building any time soon to either recover property or move back in.

Currently, they are receiving assistance from the American Red Cross.

Picture: Det. Rich Schauf, left, and Capt. Patrick O'Donnell, at this morning's press conference.

These are pictures from the fire we reported this afternoon on Bank Street Road. The fire was confined to a garage owned by Everett West. The fire appears to have started with a wood stove in one corner of the garage and quickly spread to the second level. Daniel West was working outside of the garage at the time of the fire and spotted smoke coming from the garage and called 9-1-1.

Town of Batavia and Elba fire responded and Oakfield and Stafford provided standby at the Batavia fire halls.

More pictures after the jump: