There is still no word on what caused a fire that destroyed an apartment in the area of the 700 block of Chestnut Street in the city of Ithaca.
Shortly after 5 Thursday afternoon, the Tompkins 911 Center began receiving multiple calls reporting the fire. While en route, units could see a large column of smoke. A third alarm was immediately struck to bring off-duty firefighters in and to request coverage from mutual aid partners.
When firefighters arrived, crews were met with a heavy volume of fire and smoke. They immediately went to work suppressing the fire and ensuring there were no victims inside. The situation was under control in about 25 minutes, and personnel remained on the scene for about three hours extinguishing hotspots. The apartment was completely destroyed, but the multiple adjacent apartments remain habitable.
The cause is not known at this time and fire investigators are currently working to make a determination. The occupant of the apartment was not home at the time and no injuries occurred.
Bangs Ambulance, Ithaca Police, NYSEG, and the Red Cross responded to the scene, and the Cayuga Heights and Newfield Fire Departments covered additional calls in the City and Town during the incident.
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