City of Buffalo seeks ’emergency stabilization’ of fire-ravaged cobblestone buildings

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Barricades and fencing are now in place around the Cobblestone buildings ravaged by flames Tuesday evening. This is to prevent anyone from accessing the site with rubble, debris and “compromised” walls, as one city official put it.

The fire broke out shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday and ravaged the interior of this complex located between 110 and 118 South Park. Around sixty firefighters fought to finally put it out at 2 a.m. without causing any injuries.

Today, the interior portion of the structure is mostly burnt rubble, with the walls “compromised” in terms of structural integrity.

We wondered about the cause of this very destructive fire, which ravaged these old industrial buildings dating from the 1800s.

Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said Tuesday evening that the fire started on the first floor of the building and spread throughout the building. On Wednesday, he responded when asked about a cause.

“It’s just too early in the process,” he said. “The investigation is going to rely primarily on witness statements, camera footage and video footage that we can find in the area, and very little physical evidence at this point, so it will take some time.”

Mayor Brown added: “These are extremely hot days. The fire could have started for a variety of causes and the fire department has not yet determined that.”

Brown also announced that there would be emergency “stabilization” instead of emergency demolition.

We asked Katherine Amdur, Buffalo’s Commissioner of Permits and Inspections, to further explain this stabilization process.

“Right now it’s all pretty preliminary,” Amdur said. “But all that weight has to get out of there, so keep in mind that it’s all water-soaked. You have heavy wood that’s water-soaked. There’s a lot of material. That weight pulls on the structure, it must therefore be removed and emptied.

“And if it’s possible, we would move to a closer hull and attach side reinforcements throughout that hull in several places. And then we would tie the front and back of that down to the ground anchors to support it, so that’s something we’re looking at.

This is a very technical process and, as Mayor Brown admitted, “potentially expensive.”

Amdur further explained that there was a lot of heavy, water-soaked debris in the building, so the city has what she calls this possible preliminary plan for stabilization at this time.