Freeport home considered total loss after late night fire

A fast moving fire at a Freeport home late Thursday damaged it beyond repair, the borough’s fire chief said Friday.

Tom Sweeny Jr., chief 1 of the Freeport Volunteer Fire Department, said the 2-story house at 214 2nd St. is a total loss.

“The fire vented itself through the roof, so the roof is pretty much destroyed,” Sweeny said. “Pretty much the whole second floor is either heavy fire damage or smoke damage. Then the first floor you have extensive smoke and water damage.

“I doubt very much they’d want to rebuild.”

The blaze was reported about 11:45 p.m. By the time firefighters arrived, flames were visible through the roof and at least two windows had been blown out.

No one was injured.

The fire is believed to have started in a second floor bedroom, according to South Buffalo Assistant Fire Chief Matt McCrea. The two departments assist each other with fire calls.

“That’s where the most intense damage was,” McCrea said Friday.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. A state police fire marshal with the Butler barracks is investigating the cause.

A couple and their two daughters live in the home, Sweeny said. Neither they nor their pet dogs were there when the fire broke out. They were staying with a relative when the fire broke out and remain with that relative, Sweeny said.

McCrea said firefighters were able to contain the fire to the one house because they were able to get inside it quickly to start dousing the flames.

“We had a really good knock down on the fire. That’s what saved some of the other houses catching on fire, also,” he said.