Three Buffalo Firefighters Injured Battling Commercial Blaze Near Station

Buffalo firefighters had a busy and bizarre Saturday in the city's University Heights neighborhood, where they battled a two-alarm blaze that destroyed an auto repair shop and a Chinese restaurant.

The didn't have far to go: the blaze at Bailey and Hewitt avenues was directly across the street from a city firehouse.

But then, as firefighters got that blaze under control, they spotted smoke billowing from a vacant funeral home at yet another fire just a block away on Bailey, near Dartmouth Avenue.

In the end, some 70 fire personnel converged on Bailey to fight the smoke and flames that caused an estimated $365,000 damage at five buildings.

Three firefighters were taken to Erie County Medical Center for minor burns, while another suffered heat exhaustion on an afternoon when the temperature reached a record 91 degrees.

"It's hot," Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield Jr. said at the scene. "We're lugging water for our guys and girls trying to make sure they're hydrated, trying to make sure they're safe. They're taking a beating out here."

The two-alarm fire started shortly before 4 p.m. at 3229 Bailey, which is listed as the J.L. Auto Body Shop.

"The owner was working on his car and heard a 'bang' in another part of the shop," Whitfield said.

When the owner went to check out the noise, he saw a compressor on fire, the commissioner said.

The owner ran from the building, and apparently alerted those in the Chinese restaurant next door to evacuate, before crossing the street to report the fire at Engine 23, the firehouse at 3226 Bailey, Whitfield said.

"There was a 'boom,' " said one witness, "and you just saw fire."

Firefighters leapt into action.

"That's a tough response," Whitfield said. "It's very difficult to jump right out of your firehouse and into the flames."

The repair shop was called a total loss. Damages were estimated at $50,000 to the building and $100,000 to its contents.

The fire quickly spread next door to the Chinese restaurant, Xing Wok, at 3233 Bailey, which was heavily charred and damaged. Damages to the restaurant and apartments at the rear were estimated at $75,000 to the building and $50,000 to the contents.

Neighbors said it was a family-run business. The restaurant was at the front of the building, while the family lived in the back.

The fire also spread to a house next to the repair shop at 312 Hewitt, causing $50,000 damage to the building and $25,000 to contents.

The fire also caused an estimated $15,000 damage to a vacant house next to the restaurant at 3235 Bailey.

The investigation is continuing.

No sooner did firefighters control the fire scene than they spotted smoke a block away at the vacant United Memorial & Ross Funeral Home, 3272 Bailey near Dartmouth.

The funeral home had been the scene of a previous fire in January 2011.

Either embers from the auto repair shop managed to reignite the fire at the funeral home or someone intentionally started it while firefighters were occupied with the blaze at Bailey and Hewitt, Whitfield said.

"Our guys saw smoke billowing from it," Whitfield said. "We got it under control. It really didn't get to take off, so we're grateful for that."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service