Silver Lake Daily Newsletter.com

Wyoming County Fire:
Resident treated at WCCH after fire destroys Bliss home on Cadwell Road

By BRIAN, bquinn@batavianews.com

A tenant who lost his home in a fire on Cadwell Road was getting assistance from his daughter and the Red Cross after being treated for smoke inhalation and released from Wyoming County Community Hospital.

Firefighters responded at 11:20 a.m. Sunday to a reported structure fire at the residence of Chester Howland, 7862 Cadwell Rd. Wyoming County Fire/EMS Coordinator William Streicher said the house was a total loss. Streicher said there was about $100,000 in damage and that the cause was a faulty wood stove chimney.

Firefighters were at the scene for about five hours, the fire/EMS coordinator said.

“They encountered high winds at the time of the fire. At the time of arrival, there was heavy smoke emanating from the structure,” he said.

Streicher said getting water to the scene went pretty well.

“They had to haul it with tankers. They call it tanker shuttle. We established two fill sites and water flow was maintained throughout,” he said. “Access to some parts of the home was compromised. A second-floor stairway ended up burning out, which hampered firefighters getting to the second floor. They ended up having to gain access to the second floor through second-floor windows.”

Firefighters took care of all hot spots and did not have to return to the scene later, he said.

The fire chief in charge was Bliss Fire Chief Clarence George. Bliss, Arcade, Castile, Gainesville, Pike, Perry, Silver Springs, Strykersville, Centerville, Fillmore and Yorkshire firefighters responded to the scene. Wyoming County Emergency Services, the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department, New York State Police, the Red Cross and RG&E assisted at the scene. Gainesville, North Java, Fillmore and Yorkshire firefighters were on standby.

Streicher said extra departments were called due to the high number of personnel needed to supplement the initial response

“The whole incident was very labor intensive. We just special-called any extra resources we needed,” he said. “Three extra departments were called for that reason.”