A Utica business that's been around for more than 50 years caught fire Sunday morning. Crews spent much of the day fighting flames at "Empire Furniture Company" on Bleecker Street and much of the building was damaged. Melissa Krull spoke with officials and bystanders about what happened.
UTICA, N.Y. -- The call for a fire at Empire Furniture Company came in shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Four tenants living upstairs were able to get out. The fire continued burning throughout the morning and it took crews six hours to get the fire under control.
"It looks like the exterior and interior of the rear of the building has sustained quite a lot of fire damage," said Utica Fire Department Chief Fire Marshal Raymond Centolella.
Sometimes putting out a fire can lead to other problems.
"What wasn't damaged by the fire, there is a tremendous amount of water in there. You have to remember, water is quite heavy as well so, and then with the weather you have the possibility of everything freezing, compounding your issues," said Centolella.
The area in front of the building was blocked off throughout the day, but several people came to see what was going on.
"I came to work this morning, about 7:30 a.m. There are some returns I wanted to get out today for tomorrow, and they wouldn't let me near it because there was embers flying on the roof," said tax preparer Michael Schofield.
Schofield works in the building nextdoor. He is a friend of the owner of Empire Furniture Company.
"His business has an affect on ours and vice versa. We've both been in the neighborhood a long time, and some of my customers go there and vice versa," said Schofield.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.