Published: July 02, 2008 11:16 pm      

FORT NIAGARA: Roof blaze investigated

Visitors to Old Fort Niagara saw an unusual sight Wednesday morning: Firefighters on the roof of the one of the historic buildings.

Ticket sales for the attraction were suspended for about an hour while firefighters fought a small blaze that ignited on the roof of a 1762 structure that once served as a provision storage area for British forces.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Wednesday’s wind and a nearby U.S. Coast Guard training exercise may be the culprit, though. A possible explanation for the fire is a flare or an ember from one being blown to the roof.

“No one has seen what happened,” said Ray Wigle, Old Fort Niagara’s Association operations director. “We do not know what happened. No one saw the fire start. We’ve interviewed everyone. We really do not know how it started. No one saw it.”

What Wigle and Fort officials did see was an immediate response from personnel at the nearby Coast Guard Auxiliary station who rushed to the fire in an effort to keep it from spreading.

“We just did what we do best,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Balmer, explaining garden hoses were used initially, “It’s in our nature.”

Firefighters from the Youngstown, Ransomville and Lewiston Fire Co. 1 departments responded as well.

“When we showed up on scene, the shingles were on fire at the base of the chimney,” said Eric Wieland, chief of the Youngstown Volunteer Fire Co.

Wieland said fire crews managed to contain the blaze to an area of the roof with a diameter of about 4-square-feet. He estimated total damages between $6,000 and $8,000.

Wieland said the cause of the blaze had not yet been determined. Representatives from the Niagara County Fire Investigation Unit were at work on the site Wednesday afternoon. A cause still had not been determined Wednesday night.

Wieland declined comment when asked about reports that the blaze may have been sparked by a flare from the nearby Coast Guard training session.

“I can’t speculate on any of that yet,” Wieland said.

Balmer said fire investigators had talked to officials at the Coast Guard station after the fire.

“We haven’t heard back from them,” he said Wednesday night.

Wigle said the fort’s administrative area was not damaged and that the building’s entire roof was scheduled to be replaced later this year. Visitors were allowed entrance into the fort shortly after noon.

Wigle said the fire will not impact the fort’s Fourth of July weekend plans, which include a French and Indian War encampment featuring nearly 1,000 demonstrators who will re-create the 1759 siege of Niagara.

“It was a minimal thing, but it could have been major had not everybody responded,” Wigle said.