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At around 1am, Sunday January 31st 2016, while playing with Photoshop, I saw a vehicle with flashing lights drive by, then heard sirens in the distance, and then smelled smoke. Turns out a nearby building in the apartment complex was on fire.

There was a rapid response from three different fire departments and they got it controlled within an hour, had it mostly out within two, and four hours later had left. Here are few photos from that.

Addendum (November 2025): Adding the link to the 30 second Youtube video I recorded of the scene when the fire was under control.

# photos 000-DSC_8469: The view of the burning building from the 2nd floor of my building. 001-DSC_8470: 002-DSC_8471: 003-DSC_8472: The yellow glow is from the flames. About 5 mintues before that, the flames were clearly visible coming up maybe 10 feet higher than the rooftop, with smoke above that. The red light is from the top of the ladder truck 004-DSC_8473: 005-DSC_8474: Lots of smoke and lots of response vehicles. 006-DSC_8475: Two police officers were on the scene early, but then left once the large fire trucks arrived. Oddly enough, the shadow of the one cop looks like he's taking a picture with a cell phone, yet it doesn't look like he really is doing that. Perhaps the shadow represents his inner desires.

Addendum: After looking more closely at this picture, I am now convinced that he actually was taking a picture with his cell phone. The other officer's arm is in his pocket, as his shadow indicates. As they say, "The Shadow knows..." 007-DSC_8476: Firefighters came from Lansing, Ithaca, and Cayuga Heights. According to one person I talked with later one, he said given the size of the apartment complex, they didn't need equipment as much as manpower. 008-DSC_8477: Initially, I didn't see any responders wearing respirators, so I assume they were keeping their distance from the flames. Later, I started seeing people with portable oxygen. 009-DSC_8478: The ladder over the burning apartment. 010-DSC_8479: The orange glow from the flames coming from the far side of the building. 011-DSC_8480: Smoke and glow and the flames. 012-DSC_8481: There was a lot of smoke. Fortunately for me, it was being blown away from me. 013-DSC_8482: The glow from the fire is still visible. 014-DSC_8483: 015-DSC_8484: Outside my apartment, looking down at the parking lot full of people and equipment. It was pretty quiet except for the diesel engines and one point when a truck sounded its horn three times in a row, and then repeated it. I believe that was a signal for the firefighters to withdraw as the fire was spreading and they were going to hose the shit out of the building. 016-DSC_8485: One fire hydrant they were using is visible in the middle of the picture. The hose connecting to it was filled, so they were getting water, but a huge spray of water was coming out from the base of the hydrant. 017-DSC_8488: The spray from the hydrant is arcing to the right, probably going about 20 feet or so (about 6 meters or so, for our metric friends). 018-DSC_8489: Lots of smoke. 019-DSC_8490: The spray from the ladder is visible in this picture. 020-DSC_8491: Spraying the building from the top of the ladder. 021-DSC_8492: I think at this point that it might have been remote controlled. Later, it was clear that someone was on top of the ladder. 022-DSC_8493: Another angle showing them spraying the building from the ladder. 023-DSC_8494: Two pictures of the fire hydrant violently leaking. They had other hoses connected to another hydrant elsewhere in the complex. 024-DSC_8495: 025-DSC_8496: One of my neighbors was watching from the edge of our building. 026-DSC_8497: I like the silhouette effect along with all of the colored lights reflecting off of the smoke. 027-DSC_8498: From the start, there was a fireman whose job was to keep people out of the way, when vehicles were coming and going, as well as letting others who wanted to get in know they needed to park elsewhere. 027-post_fire_panorama-header: The Aftermath 027-post_fire_panorama-headertext: 027-post_fire_panorama: Panoramic picture of the whole (and hole) building at noon the next day. 028-DSC_8503: I noticed the tire on one car (rear passenger) seemed melted. No other apparent damage to that car or the others there. 029-DSC_8504: The damage to the apartments. 030-DSC_8505: Maintenance workers were temporarily removing a plywood door to check on the apartment, as a pipe had broken somewhere and water was still running. 031-DSC_8507: They look in the apartment. 032-DSC_8508: Remember the fire hydrant from last night? It's now marked "OUT OF SERVICE". They were able to shut it off last night, mostly, although there was a steady stream coming from the bottom of it. Steady but not a violent stream. The huge divot next to it was from where the water stream had gouged away the grass. 033-DSC_8509: Another view of the hydrant. 034-DSC_8510: They had a backhoe trying digging to get to the water main to shut off the water to the building. 035-DSC_8511: The back side of the apartments. The damaged ones have open windows. 035-DSC_8512: There are a few scattered shingles on the grass. Probably came loose from the fire or water.