by Christopher Martin,
Brockport Fire District PIO
On January 14 at 6:49 p.m., Brockport Firefighters were summoned to 151 Main Street, the historic landmark Morgan-Manning House, for a report of smoke in the structure. On arrival a light smoke condition was reported with smoke coming from the north side of the home.
Five minutes later, District Fire Chief Tim Smith declared a working fire while they continued to investigate the source of the smoke they were dealing with. Hand Lines were pulled from Pumper 233 and laid into the basement and first floor. Utilizing the National Incident Command System (NIMS), Chief Smith (2C-13) established command with Deputy Chief Adam Leggett (2C-23) supervising operations and establishing divisions while Assistant Chief Scott Wainwright (2C-33) managed personnel accountability.
Fire companies from Spencerport, Murray, Bergen, Churchville, Chili, LeRoy, Gates, North Greece, Kendall, Albion, Clarendon, Hilton, and Hamlin-Morton-Walker were summoned as additional alarms were declared during the course of the fire.
The basement division located a small fire in the basement which they were able to knock down with the lines pulled into the structure. As they were attacking the fire in the basement, the first-floor division was reporting heavy fire which they extinguished with their hand line.
Crews were ordered to the second floor to continue to search for extension and were inhibited in their efforts by the fire hidden beyond their reach within the walls. Not long after, the first-floor division reported a partial collapse of a section of the second floor down to the first floor.
Firefighting crews were then ordered from the second floor in the interest of firefighter safety. The tactic to extinguish shifted to a defensive attack utilizing the ground and aerial ladders which allowed them to attack part of the fire from the front porch roof through the windows.
Due to the floor collapse and the inability to access the fire within the walls, fire quickly spread to the attic and broke out on the second floor.
Part of the shift in the operational tactics led to utilizing elevated Master Streams from Brockport’s Quint 230, Spencerport’s Quint 2910, and Hilton’s Quint 260. Spencerport’s Quint was repositioned due to their proximity to the south side roof and chimney due to a concern over a possible collapse, which did occur a short while later. Gates Quint 4510 was requested to position on the northwest corner of the roof, tasked with opening up the attic and extinguishing any hotspots found there.
All crews were released from the scene and returned to their home quarters prior to 12:46 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
The Brockport Police Department provided security for the structure overnight and the Monroe County Fire Bureau’s Fire Investigation Team returned later Wednesday morning to continue their investigation. Results of the investigation have not yet been released.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to our neighboring departments that contributed to extinguishing this blaze, and provided standby apparatus while the rest of us were tied up fighting the fire. In addition, we would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to the Brockport Police Department, the Village of Brockport Department of Public Works, Monroe Ambulance, Brockport Ambulance Corps, Monroe County Fire Bureau, Regional Transit Service (RTS), Nativity BVM Church, and all the local businesses that provided food and beverages for our personnel.
