Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – OrleansHub.com is on the scene of a major fire at Orleans Pallet Co., located at the corner of Hamilton Street and West Avenue in Albion. The firefighters battling this blaze are worried about the nearby businesses containing chemicals and volatile materials. They are spraying water on the roof of Empire Coatings, a paint shop, to keep it cool.

Check back later for more details on this developing story.

ALBION – Firefighters on the scene of a major fire at Orleans Pallet Co. have blocked off the area within a half-mile radius of the building at the corner of Hamilton Street and West Avenue. Route 31 has been blocked, west of Route 98.

Paul Wagner, Orleans County Fire Coordinator, is concerned that if the building collapses on nearby Empire Coatings, there could be an explosion, due to the chemicals and volatile materials inside that building.

Firefighters have asked that Albion residents keep their windows and doors closed as a precaution.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Firefighters linked hoses from several companies to direct water from the canal to the fire on Route 31 at Hamilton Street. This photo shows a fire hose on West Academy Street near the West Park Street intersection.

ALBION – I wondered what would happen if the village ran out of water trying to put out the massive fire today. I know we have a 3-million-gallon storage tank on routes 31A and 98 in Barre, and other smaller storage facilities.

But could that supply could get exhausted trying to put out the big fire? I asked one of the firefighters if that was a concern, running out of water, and he pointed to a long fire hose than ran to the Erie Canal. We don’t need to worry about running out of water.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Firefighters are using two ladder trucks to keep down embers and hot spots in the smoldering ruins of the Orleans Pallet at the corner of Hamilton Street and Route 31 in the village of Albion. These photos were taken at about noon.

ALBION – A massive Median sandstone warehouse, a landmark structure along Route 31 for more than a century, may not be standing by the end of the day.

Demolition contractors are mobilizing and expect to start knocking down the walls of the Orleans Pallet building this afternoon.

Contractors are expected to start on the east side of the building, next to Empire Coatings Inc. That business hasn’t been able to fully resume work operations today because of the unsteady sandstone wall next door.

Police Chief Roland Nenni said the village and contractors want the wall to be safely knocked in on the pile of debris as soon as possible so Empire can fully run its operations.

“They will take down enough of it to make it safe,” Nenni said at noon.

Environmental Construction Group in Albion is lead contractor for the demolition. A contractor from Rochester is helping with the project and is expected on site at about 1 p.m.

ALBION – Demolition contractors are on site and working to knock down the warehouse that was engulfed in flames on Thursday.

The structure has been declared unsafe by Village Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti. The Village Board called an emergency meeting at 9 a.m. today and supported the demolition of the Orleans Pallet structure at the corner of Hamilton Street and West Avenue.

Contractors, led by the Environmental Construction Group of Albion, are expected to work over the weekend to knock down the walls of the three-story warehouse.

Crews are starting in the northeast corner of the structure that seems the most compromised. They will push in the walls, trying to remove a public hazard.

Vendetti has shut down operations at part of Empire Coatings, a neighboring building, until the east wall is taken down. That wall, if left standing, could topple on a building owned by Empire Coatings.

Environmental Construction Group is being assisted with the project by Empire Wrecking of Rochester. Canaan Environmental of Spencerport is also on scene and will do air-monitoring tests during the knockdown.

Firefighters will also stay on scene and will spray water to reduce the spread on any air contaminants.

Crews will start the demolition with the back corner of the warehouse.

Orleans Pallet used site to rebuild wooden crates, pallets

ALBION – A massive blaze that engulfed an old warehouse full of wooden crates and pallets has firefighters worried about buildings next door, including Empire Coatings.

Orleans Pallet worked out of the site at the corner of Hamilton Street and Route 31. The building is a towering warehouse made of Medina sandstone in 1901. It was originally the Albion Cold Storage Company.

The building seemed sturdy two hours after the fire ripped through the site. But firefighters said Empire Coatings was very close by next door in a building with chemicals and volatile compounds. If the warehouse toppled to the side and landed on Empire Coatings, firefighters worried it would ignite a chemical explosion.

Empire Coatings owns the white building directly next to the warehouse on fire.

Haz-Mat teams were on scene. Residents and onlookers, including reporters, were all directed to create at least a half-mile perimeter away from the fire in case of a chemical explosion.

The fire broke out at about 4 p.m. A huge plume of dark smoke could be seen as far away as Batavia and Spencerport. There were at least five ladder trucks on the scene at one point, although several were unmanned because of the intense heat from the blaze. A hose was mounted to the top of the ladders to try to douse and slow the fire.

Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni told Albion residents to keep their windows and doors closed, and he shut down the streets near the fire.

Photo by Tom Rivers – A lone onlooker, who said he was a former Orleans Pallet employee, walks the railroad tracks tonight at about 10:30 when firefighters were packing up and heading home after six hours of intense firefighting.

ALBION – The huge blaze that feasted on a three-story stone warehouse has been put out. The structure still stands but that may not be the case tomorrow.

Albion Fire Chief Rocky Sidari said he expects the Medina sandstone building to be knocked down on Friday.

Shawn Malark is the owner of the building and also president and CEO of Orleans Pallet, which takes broken pallets and rebuilds the wooden crates for businesses, primarily the agricultural industry.

Sidari said more than 100 firefighters battled the blaze. All 12 fire departments in the Orleans County were on scene, with additional manpower from departments in Niagara, Genesee and Monroe counties.

Spark from grinder likely cause of blaze at Orleans Pallet

Photos by Tom Rivers – There is still a lot of smoke coming from the three-story Albion warehouse that was fully engulfed in flames soon after the fire broke out around 4 p.m. This photo was taken at 7:30 p.m. from Washington Street.

Firefighters continue to direct water on the smoldering rubble at Orleans Pallet at 227 West Ave. The Town of Batavia ladder truck, at right, is one of at least five ladder trucks that were brought in to help put out the fire.

ALBION – A massive fire that fully engulfed a three-story warehouse has likely been contained to that building, sparing neighboring structures, including Empire Coatings Inc.

“We’re out of the danger stage, and now we’re in the mop-up stage, which is going to take a long time,” Paul Wagner, the Orleans County emergency management coordinator, said at about 7:30 p.m.

By then the roof had collapsed at Orleans Pallet, a big structure along the railroad tracks at Hamilton Street and Route 31. After more than three hours of firefighting, the inside of the building was full of big piles of rubble that were still smoldering and giving off a lot of smoke.

“It’s going to be a real long night,” an Albion firefighter said.

The blaze started when workers were cutting pipe supports with a grinder, Wagner said. A spark ignited nearby debris at the south end of the building and the fire quickly spread.

“The workers grabbed a fire extinguisher but the fire was too far gone,” he said.

Police and firefighters are maintaining a perimeter about a half-mile from the fire at 227 West Ave.

This photo was taken from Hamilton Street near the railroad tracks.