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September
14, 2006 (Lancaster Bee)
Fire
destroys Tattered Cat
Residents
displaced from 76-year-old building
Lancaster Village Firefighters
make entry into the first floor of the Tattered Cat antique shop, 213
Central Ave., as flames shoot from the roof of the 76-year-old
structure on the morning of Sept. 11.
Five apartments in the building were also destroyed in the
early-morning mutual aid blaze.
Balloon construction hampered their efforts. Photo by John Robinson Jr.
Fire swept through the building housing the
Tattered Cat antque shop early Monday, Sept.
11 at 213 Central Ave., destroying it and five apartments – three
of them occupied. No one was
injured.
Incident Commander Scott M. Kuhlmey,
Assistant Chief of the Lancaster Village Fire Department, was one of
the first firefighters to arrive shortly after 1 a.m. to find
well-established flames at street level claiming new territory
upstairs.
“We had heavy fire on the first floor
on the south side, and it was starting to extend into the second
floor,” he said. “We made the initial attack on the fire
and made a pretty good knockdown on the first floor, but with the older
balloon-construction wood frame building, the fire quickly traveled and
we had to resort to using aerial or ladder trucks to come in and assist
with knocking down the real heavy fire.”
Balloon-constructed buildings are assembled
around a wooden frame built first, Kuhlmey said, which often leaves
hollow pathways for flames and oxygen inside walls and supports. Modern structures are built by
completing a floor before starting an upper story, providing physical
stops for the vertical movement of fire.
“In a house or a building like the
Tattered Cat – a two and a half story building – there are
channels or voids that go from the basement up to the attic without
fire stops,” he said. “So once a fire gets into the wall,
it will literally chimney or channel right up the entire building.
“And it can jump floors, so you could have a fire in the
basement, think you have it, and the next thing you know you’ve
got fire blowing out the attic.”
In addition to the antique shop, the building
contained three apartments on the first floor and two upstairs, one
vacant on each floor. No occupants or firefighters were injured during
the fire, which was battled for more than an hour before it was
considered under control. Crews remained at the site until well after
daylight Monday to ensure extinguishment and to assist the police
investigation.
“We got there at one o’clock and
we were there until, I’m going to guess, about 10 o’clock
in the morning,” Kuhlmey said. “And then we came back again
when they demolished the building, because there are obviously
fire-safety concerns there as well, and the collapse issues.”
The Red Cross assisted with accommodations
for the people left homeless by the blaze.
“I think we ended up with a total of three
or four displaced residents,” Kuhlmey said.
Ten fire companies in all responded to the
fire, including the Villages of Lancaster and Depew, which contributed
a ladder truck for the aerial assault.
Town Line kept Depew’s ladder truck supplied with water
and also provided an engine to stand by at the Lancaster Village Hall
on Broadway to cover in the event of another alarm.
The Harris Hill and Millgrove departments
provided manpower, and the HyView Fire
Department of Cheektowaga responded with extra air tanks. From farther
away, the Newstead and Spring Brook companies
answered the call by responding with mobile air cascade systems,
vehicle-mounted air compressors that allow firefighters to refill
depleted air bottles. “They’re actually the two closest
departments that have that type of equipment,” Kuhlmey said.
“That’s not something we have the capability to do in
Lancaster.”
In addition, the Bowmansville and Twin
District companies provided F.A.S.T. units, or Firefighter Assist and
Search Teams.
The Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corps was
also on hand to monitor the health and hydration of the active
firefighter, as well as to respond to any medical needs or hospital
transport.
Kuhlmey said that responders have battled a
number of fires at that address in recent years.
“Different oweners
and different occupancies; different groups have gone in there, but
we’ve had a couple fires of notable interest,” he said. The
cause of the fire was electrical.
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