ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- Three Accord volunteer firefighters escaped injury Saturday when an interior staircase collapsed beneath them while they were fighting a house fire, authorities said.
The 7 p.m. fire destroyed a house at 14 Shefers Road, leaving a family of six seeking temporary shelter, said Billy Farrell, chief of the Accord Fire Department. One person was home at the time of the fire but got out safely and no one was injured, he said.
The fire chief said three firefighters were inside the two-story home battling the blaze when the stairwell collapsed and they fell into the basement. The firefighters were able to get out of the basement through a rear door.
Farrell said one of the firefighters was his son, William Farrell, a lieutenant with the department. The other two were Paul Ryder and Tom O'Brien. None were injured.
Cindy and Ken Pommerencke lived at the home with their four children, Ryan, Matthews, Dylan, and Emily, the younger Farrell said.
He said clothes that had fallen behind a dryer had apparently ignited, sparking the two-alarm blaze.
Farrell said that he and his fellow firefighters had dragged a hose into the house in an effort to extinguish the blaze.
But as they raced up a stairwell it collapsed, sending him and the two others into the basement.
"At first, you are scared, but we are trained to think quick on our feet," Farrell said.
Farrell, 18, who has been an Accord firefighter for three years, said the three found a basement door leading outside about a minute after they fell through.
About a dozen pieces of fire apparatus were at the scene along with nearly 30 firefighters from various departments.
Copyright 2007 by the Daily Freeman.
Republished with permission of the Daily Freeman.
