BATAVIA, N.Y. — A warehouse in the city of Batavia is a total loss after a three-alarm fire Saturday morning.

Firefighters were on the scene all day, putting out any remaining hot spots and conducting an investigation. The fire has been contained, and did not spread to any neighboring buildings, according to Batavia City Manager Rachael Tabelski. Firefighters have broken off for the night, with Batavia city personnel securing the scene and monitoring it overnight, with investigation expected to continue into the following days.

Batavia city firefighters were dispatched at 7:47 a.m., and Fire Chief Joshua Graham says they knew, from the plume of smoke they could see when they left the station, that it would be at least a two-alarm fire. They arrived at the 20 Howard St. property to find it fully engulfed, with fire coming from the front doors and roof vents. At the scene Saturday morning, the chief said they hadn’t at that point been able to enter the buildings during the active firefighting.

“As city manager, I’ve never seen a fire of this magnitude,” Tabelski said. “I’ve seen small residential fires; this is probably one of the biggest fires we’ve had in the city in my tenure, which is the last five years.  I’m sure there have been others in the past, but this was extensive, and it went up and went up quickly,” She said some reported being able to see the plume of smoke from Route 390.

Nobody was injured in the fire. Graham said an employee had left at around 7 a.m., and the fire had not yet started, so nobody is believed to have been in the buildings.

Tabelski said Baskin Livestock, a family-owned livestock business, has owned the buildings for several years. She said food products were stored in the building.

“It is going to be a total loss,” she said.

The buildings are metal structures, which created some issues. At the scene Saturday morning, Graham said the metal falling in can cover areas where fire might still be active, so they would need to get an excavator on scene to dig out so they could put out any remaining pockets of fire. Also, Tabelski said the city would have the state Department of Environmental Conservation look into any impact on the storm sewer from oil and grease coming off the burning structure.

Tabelski also said National Grid shut some power off to make sure the pumps that bring water from the city’s water sources to the plant could continue operating, as some of them were shorting.

Having enough water has been the big issue. “With it being fully involved, obviously it’s a big fire, it’s going to need a lot of water. So we’ve had a lot of issues getting the amount of water that we needed,” Graham said.

The city increased its water capacity to deal with the fire, according to Public Works Director Tom Phelps.

“The water got increased this morning once we found out about the fire, from 2.6 to 3.5 million gallons a day, to make sure we were still full and can continue with the fire and the city use.  At this time our tanks are still as high as normal,” Phelps said at the fire scene. He said residents may notice some discoloration in their water — “we’re pulling water from four different mains to feed basically the entire city” — but it doesn’t pose any danger. He said there may be some water breaks due to the increased usage — when pipes flex, “an old crack or anything could pop,” he said.

Harvester Avenue is reopening to traffic, but Howard Street will remain closed for now, the city manager said.