‘Once it sparked there was no stopping it.’

Photo by Tom Rivers

Photos by Tom Rivers: A huge fire on Thursday broke out in a warehouse that was very close to Empire Coatings, Inc. Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading.

ALBION – Long before it was engulfed in flames on Thursday, Rocky Sidari and Albion firefighters worried about the three-story warehouse at Route 31 and Hamilton Street.

The structure is snug in a commercial district, and stands only a few feet away from Empire Coatings, Inc., a painting company that uses chemicals.

“We actually talked about this building all the time,” said Sidari, the Albion fire chief. “I always said if it burns while I’m chief I know exactly what I’m going to call. We knew when it went up it was going to be an exterior attack with ladder truck operations and that’s basically what we did. There was no interior on it, obviously.”

Firefighters from four counties used at least five ladder trucks to spray water on the building. Sidari said firefighters were told not to get too close to the structure, in case it toppled.

He was particularly worried about the east side of the warehouse next to Empire Coatings, Inc. That business uses chemicals and volatile compounds as part of its painting operation.

The warehouse had been vacant for many years until Shawn Malark bought it and used it to store wooden pallets. Malark is the owner of Orleans Pallet, which rebuilds pallets for farmers and other businesses.

The blaze at the site yesterday, caused by a spark from grinder, quickly spread as the fire feasted on all the wood and the wooden beams in a building constructed in 1901. The initial fire call went out at 4:10 p.m. and some firefighters were on the scene within a few minutes.

“We had plenty of manpower on scene,” said Paul Wagner, Orleans County’s emergency management coordinator. “But once it sparked there was no stopping it.”

The inferno spewed dark smoke that could be seen from Batavia, Spencerport and Lake Ontario. After the fire was doused after about six hours, many veteran firefighters called it the worst they had seen in Albion. The fire at the former Avon Automotive in 1999 also was a huge blaze.

Sidari helped put out the Avon fire in a rubber injected molding plant at the corner of Route 31 and Platt Street.

“I think this was worse than Avon because of the chemicals involved and all the structures in close proximity,” Sidari said. “With Avon you had a couple of houses close by. It was up fast and down fast. This one lasted a lot longer and there were a lot more things to deal with.”

Contractors and the state Department of Labor are expected to be on site this morning to develop a plan to knock down the warehouse, which remains a threat to fall on neighboring structures.

The old warehouse will be knocked down soon. It was originally the Albion Cold Storage Company.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Workers from the NAS Sign Company in Buffalo are in Albion today working on the signs for the new Advance Auto Parts. The store will be located in a former Rite Aid store at the northeast corner of routes 98 and 31.

Advance Auto has painted parts of the building and put new blacktop in the parking lot.

On Wednesday, Advance Auto announced it was getting bigger by acquiring General Parts International, a privately held parts maker, for $2.04 billion in  cash.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The back wall of Orleans Pallet by the railroad tracks and the east side of the building have joined the smoldering rubble after being knocked down by contractors late this afternoon.

Those walls were the most worrisome from a safety standpoint, especially the east wall. Firefighters worried the towering wall might topple onto Empire Coatings, Inc.

Environmental Construction Group in Albion is leading the demolition of the three-story Medina sandstone warehouse that burned Thursday.

The thick sandstone walls have been credited with containing the blaze and helping to reduce heat to the neighboring property owned by Empire Coatings.

Firefighters have also stayed on the scene since about 4 p.m. A crew from the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company was on scene when I stopped by at about 7 p.m. They were keeping the hot pile doused with water.

Contractors are expected to work over the weekend on knocking down the other walls.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ALBION – Gun owners wondering how New York’s new gun control laws will effect them are welcome to attend a Monday public forum about the issue.

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley and his staff organized the event at the Albion Middle School from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Hawley will discuss the new law that was passed in January by the State Legislature and Gov. Cuomo.

Hawley opposed the law, and every Orleans County elected board at the village, town and county level has formally gone on the record against the new legislation.

Hawley will be joined at the forum by Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Tom Drennan, and Steve Alstead from SCOPE, the Shooter’s Committee on Political Education.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Vinny Navarra is pictured inside Main Street Liquor and Wine Discount Store with his daughter Maria Dysard, the business’s manager. The liquor store opened on Monday at 20 North Main St. in Albion.

ALBION – Vinny Navarra and his family have opened a wine and liquor store at 20 North Main St., in a building where Navarra also runs a gym and has space for more tenants.

Main Street Liquor and Wine Discount Store opened on Monday. Navarra’s daughter Maria Dysard is the store manager.

“I like to support the community,” Navarra said at the site today. “We like the people in the village and the county. That’s why we opened the businesses.”

The new store is stocked with local wines – Leonard Oakes Estate Winery in Medina and Schwenk Wine Cellars in Kent – as well as other wines from New York and the United States. Other liquor products are also available.

Navarra has wanted to open a liquor store in the building for many years, including back when he ran Navarra’s Family Restaurant at the site. Back then he didn’t have the space. When he closed the restaurant, the space was quickly used up by Moss Codilis and Claims Recovery Financial Services. They then outgrew the space. CRFS is planning to move 750 employees into the former Chase site in Albion.

Navarra has been upgrading the building, installing an elevator to make 6,000 square feet of space attractive for a business in the upstairs.

Vinny Navarra brought his father’s old wine press into the liquor store. Giuseppe Navarra moved his family from Italy to Albion in 1966.

He and his family opened the Albion Fitness Center two years ago in the building. His daughter also has a business, Second Chances, in one of the suites. She restores primitive furniture and repaints it in that business. Some of her work is on display in the liqur store.

Now Dysard is also managing the liquor store that is open every day except Sunday.

“I didn’t want to see this sit empty,” Navarra said about the space. “And I always wanted to own a liquor store.”

Navarra bought the building in 1990 back when it was a vacant and rundown movie theater. He tried to renovate the building, but he said it was too far gone. He took it down and put up a modern building in 1992. He ran a restaurant in the space for about 18 years.

Navarra said the businesses have all been family projects. The new liquor store includes a wine press that was owned by his father, Giuseppe Navarra, who moved the family from Italy to Albion in 1966.

Navarra has opened the third new liquor store in Orleans County in the past four months. Julie Zimmerman opened Sixes and Sevens Spirits in June in Lyndonville.

Last month, Howard and Clara Lake opened Lakes Wines-N-Spirits on Park Avenue in Medina.