CHEEKTOWAGA – Several fire companies across the town responded to a working fire at 180 Aris Avenue in Doyle’s Fire District overnight Thursday.
Flames were seen shooting from the rear roof area around 2:30 am.
“They were ripping through the roof and quite a few feet in the air. With that though we still did the interior attack to get to the second floor to knock it down which the first arriving crew did a fantastic job getting it knocked down quickly,” said Brian Rogowski, Chief of the Doyle 2 Fire Company.
Firefighters also fought the fire from the outside using hand lines laid in from the rear of the house on Crisfield Avenue.
Cheektowaga Chronicle observed windy weather during the time of the fire, enough so to break the water streams from the outside hand lines. The chief says the wind was not a factor in fighting the fire.
View additional photos from this fire
The fire was called under control around 3 am and fully extinguished around 3:30 am.
“About half the house is destroyed in the back with the roof just totally gone,” added Mr. Rogowski.
There were no reported injuries. The house was initially classified as vacant, but investigators are now trying to determine if the house was genuinely unoccupied or if the property owner just wasn’t home at the time.
The Cheektowaga Police Department’s Fire Investigation Unit is looking into the cause.