More than 100 firefighters worked throughout the night Sunday to battle the blaze that left three people in two apartments above the business homeless -- and the building in charred ruins by Monday morning. The fire was reported at 5:51 p.m. Sunday.
"The fire appeared to be burning for a long time before we got there," Solvay Fire Chief Angelo Cantello said. "It was rolling really good."
Firefighters made an "initial interior attack," Cantello said, but "the fire was too great." He ordered the firefighters out of the building. "The fire was running all around them, above their heads," he said. "It was all for their safety."
SOLVAY, New York (CNY) -- Crews were on the scene for several hours Sunday night fighting a raging fire at Fairmount Carpet & Linoleum on Milton Avenue in Solvay.
The first emergency calls came into Onondaga County 911 just before 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening and within minutes the building was completely engulfed in flames.
Firefighters on the scene say rubber inside the factory made it difficult to put out the fire, and the Solvay Fire
Chief was worried the building would collapse.
"We had to pull our teams out and go to a defensive operation," said Angelo Cantello, the Solvay Fire Chief.
Crews spent time working neighboring buildings to make sure the flames didn't spread through the center of the village and crews had to return to the scene Monday morning to monitor hot spots.
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(The usual disclaimers: I am not a journalist; This is a blog that expresses an outlook and is not conclusive in any shape or manner.)
