RFD rules fire accidental: Someone was working on his car and flammable liquid was unintentionally ignited
[anvplayer video=”5142195″ station=”998131″]
UPDATE (Monday at 5 p.m.): RFD confirms that the fire started when someone was working on his car and some flammable liquid was accidentally ignited. The fire is being ruled accidental.
UPDATE (Monday at noon): Firefighters on Monday morning are still at the scene of a storage facility on the city’s eastside that caught fire on Sunday night.
The four-alarm fire started around 8 p.m. on Leighton Avenue and spread all the way to Greenleaf Street. The flames have stopped but crews are still working to put out some lingering hot spots using water.
The damage and destruction were catastrophic. Officials said the heavy fire and smoke were coming mainly from the storage unit of this building that houses several different businesses.
Rochester Fire Department Captain David Abdoch said the original call came in as a car on fire inside the warehouse of the one-story building. Fire crews came as far away as Penfield and other parts of the county are here to provide mutual aid.
Fire crews are on the scene of a warehouse fire on Greenleaf Street, off Atlantic. This is a developing story and News10NBC will update the story as we learn more.
Besides making sure homes across the street from the warehouse also did not burn down, firefighters said the construction of the building is keeping the fire from spreading any further. Captain Abdoch tells us no one was inside the building and no injuries have been reported. There will be an investigation into the cause of the fire soon.
Some classic cars stored inside were destroyed. Local businesses also used the building for storage and a lot of that burned up in the fire. Battalion Chief Tim Young tells us thanks to the building having a firewall, it kept the fire from spreading to the rest of the building.
“It was crucial for the protection of the next building down the row,” Young said. “Had that firewall not been there it would continue to burn until it ran out of the building. Our crews set up on the inside of the firewall on the unburned portion and made sure that the fire did not come through.”
RELATED: A fire wall helped stop a fire from burning a whole city block
[anvplayer video=”5142140″ station=”998131″]
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Firefighters are battling a catastrophic fire at a storage facility on the city’s eastside that started on Sunday night.
This fire was intense. The building is spread across a few streets, I was on Greenleaf and it was so hot that I had to take a few steps back. There was also a home next to me, the front of it was melted because this fire was so intense. I was able to catch up with the owner of Fleet Feet she says she lost everything
Flames ripped through a storage facility on Leighton Avenue, causing catastrophic damage. Inside are storage units for businesses, cars, and much more. You could hear explosions.
BOOM! Can you tell us what that was? “Explosions going on right now, it could be due to tires exploding or combustibles,” said David Abdoch, Rochester Fire Captain.
Standing outside, watching the facility burn to the ground, was the owner of Fleet Feet, a running company in Rochester. All their things were destroyed.
“We lost 100% of our race company in there, so finish lines pa’s timing, it’s all in there, we were just standing on the other side watching it burn,” said Ellen Boutillier of Fleet Feet.
The original call came in for a car on fire from inside the warehouse. You can see intense flames and billowing black smoke, at one point access to water was an issue.
“The size of this building, and a lot of the stuff that’s in there, we are not 100% sure of, and how much was burning, we stay outside, we get water, and that’s one of the issues we had here is getting enough water to all the firetrucks,” said Abdoch.
A couple of people we spoke to, watching the flames roar across the building, said the only thing they can do, is to stay positive.
“We can only control going forward, to what we can do to rebuild and gain back what we need to provide to the community, what we provide, I can’t do anything more,” said Boutillier.
Emergency crews say access to water is not an issue anymore. No one was hurt, and the cause of this fire is still under investigation.
RFD said that there was a car on fire inside the building when they arrived, along with heavy smoke. They used water to control the fire in the one-story building. There are multiple businesses at the storage facility and a firewall contained the fire.
Here is a statement from Fleet Feet Rochester:
Dear Rochester, Tonight the warehouse that stores all of our event equipment suffered a major fire tonight and lost 95%+ of the equipment used to produce the events plus some Fleet Feet items.
Over 25 years’ worth of equipment and supplies gone but with a race in 12 days you can rest assured we will be ready. Please be patient with us these next few weeks to months while we work to rebuild, but we will still have our events and we will still be cheering you to the finish lines. It just might look a little different.
Thank you, first responders, for everything you do for our community as so many departments were out tonight working hard to save at least half the building and businesses. Thank you for your patience during this time. Regards, Boots, Ellen & our entire YellowJacket Racing & Fleet Feet Teams.
