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Fatal fire in Rochester is under investigation

One person died and three people, including a firefighter, were injured in an multi-family house fire on Rochester's West Side early Friday morning.

Rochester police Captain Frank Umbrino said shortly after 4 a.m., officers were called to the residence on Hancock Street near West Avenue following a report of a domestic dispute.

Shortly after that, a 911 caller reported a fire at the same location.

When police and firefighters arrived, the three-story building was fully engulfed. Firefighters were unable to move through the flames and heavy smoke to get to the third floor, where they were told someone was trapped.

Umbrino said once the fire was under control, they found the body of a woman, believed to be in her seventies, in her third floor apartment. Her name was being withheld pending the notification of her family.

"The victim had no connection to the domestic dispute," Umbrino said. "She was up on the third floor and the domestic dispute happened somewhere else in the building, in a different apartment."

One firefighter was treated for burn injuries. Two other residents of the apartment building were treated for smoke inhalation. All other occupants of the building were able to safely evacuate. Police said only seven of nine apartments were believed to be occupied.

As of noon on Friday, no arrests were reported, but Umbrino said both the Major Crimes Unit and the Arson Task Force are investigating to determine what connection, if any, the reported domestic dispute had to the fire.

"It's no different than any other suspicious death, if you will. Until we know for sure what it is, we're going to treat it as a crime scene," Umbrino said.

The home was a total loss and will be demolished. The Red Cross was helping to find temporary housing for people who were displaced by the fire.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.