City of Batavia Fire made quick work of a basement fire at an apartment house on Sunday night. The fire quickly spread to the first and second floors in the wall at 438 Ellicott street, a side by side duplex.
Residents on the east side of the building were alerted to the fire after hearing noises coming from the basement about 8:05p.m. All occupants evacuated the structure after they located flames in the basement.
City Fire worked quickly to put out the fire in the basement, but then had to chase it as it got into the wall and traveled to the first and second floor. A second alarm was called to assist with manpower.
Crews on scene were able to locate the fire in the wall and stop the blaze from spreading, saving the apartment home.
According to Captain Greg Ireland, the basement suffered fire damage and the first and second floor had smoke and water damage. One firefighter suffered an upper body injury and was transported to UMMC to be checked out. There were no other injuries reported.
One cat did escape the fire by hopping out a back window onto a roof.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze, it is believed to be accidental in nature.