Fire crews and businesses continue to clean up after a massive fire Sunday at a large commercial building on Rochester’s east side.
The fire was at a building that took up nearly an entire block on Leighton Avenue. City fire department spokesman, Captain David Abdoch said that building contains storage space as well as some businesses.
He said the four alarm blaze took nearly 18 city fire companies to put out along with help they got from other local fire departments.
“One of the biggest difficulties was trying to get enough water effectively on the fire,” said Abdoch. “So that’s where we had to get mutual aid assistance from the county.”
The fire did heavy damage to that building, but Abdoch said a firewall helped keep the flames from doing even more damage to businesses that are located there. He said the heat from the fire actually melted some of the siding from nearby homes.
Abodoch said the fire is still being investigated, but the cause is believed to be accidental, possibly related to someone in the building who was working on his car. That individual did suffer some burns but no other injuries were reported.
Among the businesses impacted by Sunday’s fire was Yellowjacket Racing, which puts on many of the local road races in the area. Co-owner Ellen Brenner-Boutillier said that they lost nearly all of the equipment they use to put on those races, things like barricades, PA systems, and special timing equipment.
But Brenner-Boutillier said that won’t stop them from continuing to put on upcoming races.
“You bet we are, we have a race in 12 days,” said Brenner-Boutillier. “We have a lot in November and in December and into January. It just might look more like 1992 than 2022.”
Brenner-Boutillier said the other business that she and her husband David “Boots” Boutillier own, Fleet Feet, lost some equipment in the warehouse fire, but that business also is continuing on with its regular operations.
