Not much is left after this house in Mendon burned to the ground in a two-alarm fire on Monday, April 3. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles around. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
A two-alarm fire destroyed a home in Mendon on Monday, April 3 and sent dark black smoke billowing into the sky which could be seen from miles around as firefighters from six fire departments battled the blaze.
Mendon Fire Department was dispatched to 29 Chorley Wood Court, off Bosworth Field which is off of Route 251 east of the hamlet of Mendon at 3:16 p.m. for the report of a structure fire. Mendon Fire Chief Steve Tschiderer was the first firefighter on the scene at 3:20 p.m. and found a “well-involved” fire at a 2-and-a-half story wood frame house. The homeowner was home and confirmed to Chief Tschiderer that all occupants, including pets, were out of the house. Chief Tschiderer quickly walked around the house to assess the situation while waiting for the first trucks to arrive.
“When I got there the fire was extensive but the house was not fully-involved,” Tschiderer said. “By the time I got around to the back of the house, there was so much fire and it was spreading so rapidly, that it was quickly fully involved.”
Tschiderer made the decision to go into defensive operations, attacking the fire only from the outside.
“The wind and the fact that the house was under major renovation aided in the rapid spread of the fire,” Tschiderer stated. “I decided that I was not going to risk putting firefighters in the interior of the structure.”
Tschiderer also upgraded the fire to a second-alarm fire, summoning mutual aid assistance from Honeoye Falls, Pittsford, Fishers, Bushnells’ Basin and Rush. Some of that assistance was in the form of aerial trucks with one each arriving from Honeoye Falls, Pittsford and Fishers along with more manpower. Much of that assistance arrived within 15 minutes of the original dispatch time. Tschiderer said there was a need for bigger hoses and water at a more rapid pace. Only one of the aerial trucks wound up being used because the aerials need so much space for their footers which help stabilize the trucks when the aerial ladders are fully extended and that space was already taken up by pumpers and engines that had arrived ahead of the second and third aerial trucks. The other two aerial trucks were parked at the end of the cul-de-sac in case they were needed.
Smoke from the fire towered over much of the eastern side of the hamlet and was visible from miles around, including from areas in Victor, Canandaigua and Pittsford and even was seen on the traffic camera at the Interstate 390/Thruway interchange in Henrietta.
In addition to the wind, the fire also was able to rapidly consume the home because of major renovations being undertaken at the house.
“There was no drywall installed yet in the area being renovated and drywall slows progression of a fire,” said Tschiderer, who also thanked the Egypt Fire Department which provided a fill-in at Mendon’s fire station. Also on the scene were Monroe County Fire Bureau investigators and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies helping with traffic and assisting in the investigation as to the cause of the fire.
The renovation work being done on the house consisted of a two-story three-car garage addition that was 24 feet x 36 feet and a two-story renovation of 2,300 square feet on the other side of the house, according to the Mendon Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer/Fire Marshall Corey Gates’ office. The homeowner had the proper permits for two sides of the house, was his own general contractor and had submitted insurance to the town.
The wind was a big concern because of the possibility it could help spread the flames to neighboring homes. That also factored into Tschiderer’s decision to take a defensive operations mode stance.
“As it was, #27 Chorley Wood Court sustained damage with part of its siding warping and melting due to the heat of the fire,” Tschiderer said. “Hoses were deployed to keep that house wet down. The wind also carried some embers onto the neighbor’s property on the other side of 29 Chorley Wood Court and started a small brush fire that was put out.”
While there was chatter on the community Facebook page about reports of explosions, Tschiderer stated that those apparently happened before he arrived on the scene. He did say that the house had an original three-car garage and there was one vehicle inside that at the time of the fire. At some point, the additional three-car garage contained two vehicles when the fire broke out.
“After we arrived, neighbors may have heard popping noises,” Tschiderer said. “The homeowner informed us that he had ammunition stored in the basement and the ammunition was ‘cooked off’ during the fire and causing the popping noises.”
It took firefighters about one hour to get the fire under control. No injuries were reported.
At this point, investigators from the Monroe County Fire Bureau and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office are still looking into the cause of the fire, said Tschiderer, who would not comment further on that matter.
