fire

Last night we reported word of a fire at Main St. Pizza Company, 200 E. Main Street, Batavia, but information at the time made it sound relatively minor.

It turns out there the fire caused $30,000 in damage -- $25,000 to the structure and $5,000 to contents of the building, according a report released by the Batavia Fire Department late last night.

The fire was contained mostly to a exhaust duct at the rear of the building, with a "minor extension into the building."

The report states that owner Victor Marchese became aware of the fire when he smelled smoke. He immediately evacuated the customers and called 911.

When city fire crews arrived, they found heavy smoke coming from the duct and quickly dosed the fire with the use of chemical extinquishers and water hoses.

A reader sent an e-mail and said she heard an Main Street business in Batavia is on fire and Main Street is shut down.

I tried calling the dispatch center and the conversation went like this:

"I'm Howard Owens with The Batavian."

"I'm sorry, sir, we're really busy."

"I hear there is a fire on Main Street."

"I'm sorry, sir, we don't have time to talk."

Click.

I spoke to somebody at T.F. Brown's who said he heard something about a fire but didn't really know.

If you know anything, please fill us in.

Brian Hillabush is on his way to the scene, but won't be there for 40 minutes or so (he was out of town, too).

UPDATE:  Dan Jones went to the scene and confirmed there were fire trucks on the scene. The business that we had been tipped to was Main St. Pizza Company. I just called Main St. Pizza and it turned out to be a real minor fire. It was extinquished quickly and no real damage was done.

Just after midnight, the Le Roy fire department was called to a structure fire at 8484 E. Main St. Road where upon arrival they found the house fully engulfed, according to reader Gary Spencer.

Lorie Longhany also e-mailed reports of the fire.

Neighbors from across the streets dog barked, woke owner up, he crossed the street and alerted the homeowners.  The husband went back in after car keys and he was burned and taken to the hospital -- wife and daughter also taken in for smoke inhalation.  House is a total loss.

Longhany, who lives on Lime Rock, said units from Le Roy, Stafford, Caledonia, Bergen and Pavilion responded. Route 5 was closed and traffic was sent around York Road and Church Road.

Also from Lorie: 

The hero in this fire was a dog named Rocket that is no stranger to alerting danger.  A couple years back this dog was out of his yard and barking around our friends pool.  His owner was calling him to come home.  He wouldn't -- kept barking around the pool.  When his owner went to retrieve him, he found that in the pool was my neighbors and good friends dog, Buddy who would have drown.  Last night, from what my neighbors first hand account, Rocket's barking alerted his owners to the burning house across the street.  The neighbor saw the flames and ran across the street and woke up the homeowners.  That dog may have saved three lives last night.

That's all the information we have on the fire at this time.

UPDATE: Lorie sends along this note this morning:

We took a ride by this morning, and as I said, we kept away from the scene and stood in our friends driveway after being awoken to all the commotion, but it appears that the structure is heavily damaged, but not burned to the ground by any means.  The fire fighters did a tremendous job.  It is really amazing the organizational skills that these volunteers put into play as they are battling a fire.  We watched in amazement.  Probably a good many of them were there till the early hours and then had to get up and go to their paying jobs this morning.

Also, she "cautions" that her account of Rocket is third person, having been told by a neighbor who spoke with Rocket's owner.

UPDATE II: WBTA reports:

The home was occupied by 54-year-old Rita Teeter, her 54-year-old boyfriend Daniel Bovee and her 25-year-old daughter, Jennifer Coombs.

Rita and Jennifer were treated at Strong Hospital for smoke inhalation and released.

Bovee was admitted to the hospital in satisfactory condition with burns to his face, head and feet.

(Photo submitted by Stacey Smith)

A vacant bungalow at 28 Hutchins Place was heavily damaged in a late-night fire that had crews from the city and town of Batavia on scene for more than three hours.

The blaze apparently started in the rear porch area and quickly spread to the main structure. The home was "well involved" by the time fire crews arrived, according to a Batavia Fire Department release this morning.

The cause is under investigation.

The home was owned by Nathanial Williams.

No injuries were reported.

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

More photos from Stacey Smith:

Approximately $30,000 in damage was caused to a home at 46 Otis Street in Batavia last night after a fire erupted in the cockloft area of the house.

The Batavia Fire Department reports that dispatchers received numerous calls around 9:42 p.m., including an initial call from a neighbor at the rear of the house on Hutchins Street.

Crews from the city and town were dispatched to the blaze. No injuries were reported.

Damage to the structure, which is owned by Rose Szczesny, was confined to the cockloft -- or attic-like area -- of the house. There was smoke and water damage to other portions of the house.

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.

View Larger Map

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."

View Larger Map

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.

View Larger Map

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.