Fire destroys apartment house in Medina, damages next-door home as well

Photos by Ginny Kropf: A house at 208 Prospect Ave. was reduced to rubble after a fire this morning.

MEDINA – Three people are homeless in a fire early this morning, which completely destroyed an apartment house at 208 Prospect Ave. and displaced at least five people in the house next door at 206 Prospect Ave.

Medina Fire Department received the call at 4:20 a.m. and arrived at the scene at 4:24 a.m., said Medina Fire Chief Steve Cooley.

“The house was fully engulfed and three people were outside when we arrived,” Cooley said. “When the ambulance arrived, they said fire was coming from every window.”

A dog and cat were also lost in the fire.

Considerable damage was done to all three stories of the house next door and some damage to a house across the street.

The houses in that location are 20 feet apart, and Cooley said had they not responded as quickly as they did, an entire block of homes could have been destroyed. The fire was extinguished in an hour.

He said indications are the fire started on the front porch.  Cooley said they received assistance from every department in Orleans County and addition help from Niagara County.

Cooley praised all the responders, saying they did a great job of getting the fire extinguished.

Fire Chief Steve Cooley said the fire could have wiped out a block of houses if firefighters from many departments hadn’t responded so quickly.