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NEWS WNYFIRE.com is looking to expand and improve our service to the firefighters and citizens of Western New York. Please email us with your comments, ideas, and suggestions as we begin redesigning our website and services. Please email us if you are interested in joining the WNYFIRE.com team and helping to redesign our website! TWO AMHERST RESTAURANTS SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE Fires at two Amherst restaurants within less than 24 hours caused nearly $1 million in damages. Neither fire is believed to be suspicious in origin. The first, at the McDonald's, 5150 Sheridan Drive near Hopkins Road, broke out at 10:19 a.m. on Friday, September 14th. The second blaze gutted Chang’s Garden Restaurant, 938 Maple Road at Sundown Trail, at 4:55 a.m. on Saturday, September 15th. An employee of McDonald's reported smoke in the basement and was instructed by Amherst Fire Control dispatchers to close the door and evacuate the building. When Williamsville firefighters arrived, they discovered not only the basement filling with smoke, but the first floor seating area as well. Main-Transit firefighters responded directly to the scene and a crew from Snyder was used as a Firefighter Assist and Search Team. Williamsville Fire Chief Richard Maddigan said crews entering the basement had difficulty locating the seat of the fire because of supplies stacked throughout the basement. He said the boxes blocked their progress and limited the effectiveness of their thermal imaging camera, designed to see through smoke. Firefighters eventually found their way to a storage room at the rear of the basement and extinguished the flames. The fire was under control in less than 40 minutes, with damage to the contents listed at $50,000. The cause is still under investigation. The fire at Chang’s Garden Restaurant was more dramatic, with damage estimated at $750,000. The rear of the structure, located on the west end of the Boardwalk Boutiques Plaza, was later demolished by Amherst Highway Department personnel for safety reasons. It was the biggest commercial building fire in Amherst in 11 years, since the Fay’s Drug Store in the Grover Cleveland Plaza was destroyed on May 20, 1996. Dispatchers received a cellular call at 4:55 a.m. from a motorist on his way to work, reporting flames coming from the roof of the restaurant. Getzville Fire Chief Irv Isenberg requested a second alarm within just 11 minutes, as flames were extending through a dormer on the west side of the building as well as the point where the restaurant adjoins the remainder of the sprawling plaza. “My main concern was that the fire was spreading rapidly,” said Isenberg. “We set up our ladder truck at the east side of the building to make a stand and stop it before it ran through the rest of the plaza.” Crews entered the building through the front door and seating area, finding little fire extension until they reached the kitchen. However, the fire continued to spread above them, weakening the truss roof and eventually causing a collapse. Isenberg ordered crews to switch to an exterior attack, and ladder trucks from Getzville and East Amherst shot water into the kitchen area from above. The north wall of the kitchen toppled shortly thereafter. Williamsville later employed its aerial ladder to allow firefighters to remove the metal roof at the back of the building and extinguish hot spots along the roof line. Also responding to the scene were firefighters from Snyder, Eggertsville and North Bailey. Ellicott Creek provided standby coverage at the Getzville fire hall during the incident. Isenberg estimated 80 firefighters were on hand at the scene. Also damaged were two adjacent businesses: Salon John Paul at 940 Maple Road and North East Cleaners and Shirt Laundry at 942 Maple Road. The fire was declared under control just before 7 a.m. although crews remained at the scene for three more hours performing overhaul operations and assisting in the demolition of the rear of the building. The cause is under investigation. An adjacent garage at 306 Sundown Trail sustained $3,000 in exposure damage. One firefighter was transported to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for evaluation and a second was treated at the scene and remained on duty. Click HERE to see pictures of the Chang's Restaurant fire. CLARENCE HOME DESTROYED ON FRIDAY THE 13TH by DAVID F. SHERMAN Friday the 13th was hardly a good day for one Clarence family. Flames from an overheated roaster being used to cook a pig set fire to the house and attached garage at 8145 Sheridan Drive at 4 a.m. on Friday, July 13th, virtually destroying the structure. Harris Hill Fire Chief Ken Biel set total damage at $150,000. “We were on location within five minutes, and it was fully involved at that point,” Biel said. “It was already up into the second floor.” The home sits approximately 1,000 feet off the road. It is adjacent to a deer processing firm at 8139 Sheridan Drive, near Ledge Lane. Biel said a resident told him he opened the roaster and the fire flashed back at him, shooting up into the ceiling of the garage. He ran back into the house and awakened the other three family members inside. Firefighters found the two-story building a mass of flames. The attached garage, in which the propane-fired roaster was in use, had already collapsed and flames could be seen inside the basement as well. All four residents were able to escape safely and were assisted by the Red Cross. East Amherst was alerted for a Firefighter Assist and Search Team at 4:09 a.m., and Main-Transit was called to the scene just eight minutes later. Mutual aid followed swiftly from Clarence Center and Bowmansville, for both manpower and additional pumpers. Because of the possibility of a collapse, and knowing the structure was vacant, crews were ordered to fight the fire from the outside. They used several hand lines and at least one larger diameter line in an effort to control the flames. Low water pressure initially prevented firefighters from using the large-diameter nozzle on Harris Hill’s first-in ladder truck, which would have been more effective in dousing the flames from above. Crews eventually hooked up to a larger water main via a hydrant in the Eastern Hills Mall parking lot. That main, drawing from lines along Transit Road, is three times larger than the line serving that part of Sheridan Drive, Biel said. He said firefighters laid more than 2,600 feet of hose just to make hydrant connections. Combined with the hand lines used around the building, Biel estimated 5,000 feet of hose was employed in the effort. Harris Hill firefighters returned to the fire hall and were in service at 8:25 a.m. Click HERE to see pictures of the fire. WNYFIRE.COM PARTNERS WITH THE FIREFIGHTER NEWSPAPER |
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