A five-alarm fire destroyed a warehouse on Rochester’s west side Monday night.
It happened at 301 Otis St., in a large warehouse which stored a lot of wooden pallets. Fire officials say that material helped the fire spready rapidly, and that’s why they needed to call in five alarms, to bring in more resources to fight the fire.
Authorities evacuated residents in parts of Otis St. and Rogers Ave. as a precaution. RG&E cut power to the warehouse and that affected some homes in the area as well.
Officials say some of the residents are getting help with housing.
There were no residents injured but one firefighter did suffer non-life threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Fire officials say due to the collapse of the warehouse walls, demolition crews were calle din to take down the rest of the building.
There is no word yet on a cause for the fire.
On Tuesday, city officials said that approximately 16 homes were affected by the heat, smoke and water, and the city is coordinating emergency shelter for those who need it. City Hall says that the warehouse was boarded up in February as a vacant property and had 15 outstanding code violations including for an inoperable fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
But at this time, officials say it does not appear any of the code violations were the cause of the fire.
The fire is being investigated by the city's Arson task Force.
