Firefighters make ‘good save’ of home
The occupants of a 2 1/2-storey house on Ellis Street near River Road will be placed in a temporary shelter after a late morning fire caused damage to their home.
Jim Hunter, acting platoon chief with the Niagara Falls Fire Department, said they received a call around 11:30 a.m. Friday and by the time crews arrived on scene, the fire was up on the second floor and into the attic.
“It had a good head start on us and our guys knocked it down pretty quick,” he said.
“We did have a report that there was a couple people trapped, but they actually were out upon arrival, which was a good thing because there was a lot of smoke and there was flame in the back side of the unit, too, when they arrived.”
Hunter said the fire is not deemed to be suspicious, and as of Friday afternoon, officials were still unsure of the cause.
He said fire prevention officers are still investigating.
“It’s a big house, there was two units in it – basement, first floor and then there was a second-floor unit.”
Hunter said there were three residents on the scene when firefighters arrived.
“I’m not sure if anybody else showed up or not. The house isn’t liveable right now, so ... I called for the Red Cross, they’re putting them up for the night and taking care of them and making sure they got food and stuff for the next (little while) until they can get back in there.”
He said it took about an hour to put the fire out.
“We made a good save, it was starting to make its way through the roof and we stopped it in the attic - we had crews go up in the attic and actually put the fire out before it got through the roof.”
Hunter said the homeowners will be able to fix the house, “but it’s going to be awhile.”
“It won’t be probably liveable for awhile,” he said, adding contractors are going to have to clean up the property.
“There’s water damage, obviously. Down in the basement there was a bunch of instruments like drums and guitars and we went and put salvage covers over them so the water wouldn’t ruin them, so we salvaged that stuff.”
Hunter said a crew was still on scene Friday afternoon because the attic had blown-in insulation cellulose, “which can smolder forever and it can restart a house fire anytime.
“We got a contractor in there that’s going to suck all that cellulose insulation out.”