It was a busy morning for Buffalo firefighters, called to two homes within a few hours.
Firefighters knocked down a house fire on Beckwith Street, near Jefferson Avenue and Sycamore Street.
The fire started shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday and officials said no one was injured.
The Red Cross is assisting a family of three displaced by this fire.
The firefighters were not only battling the flames, but also the cold. The Regional Communications Director of the Red Cross for Western New York Jay Bonafede said the cold also poses unique challenges for the families they help after a disaster.
“Sometimes if you can’t be in the house and neighbors aren’t around to really sit in and do that quick 15, 20, 30 minute meeting our volunteers will do and finding that place to go, you are standing out in these sometimes dangerously cold temperatures,” Bonafede said. “A lot of times we are blessed to have — like the NFTA has come on some larger scale ones and had a bus you can sit in. It’s a community disaster and it takes a community response. No one organization can do all of it.”
Earlier, firefighters dealt with a house fire on Maryland Avenue.
It started around 2:45 a.m. Thursday and took Buffalo firefighters several hours to put out.
The cold weather didn't make it easy as the water firefighters were spraying on the flames quickly started to freeze once it hit the streets. The house was demolished later in the morning.
A city spokesperson said the fire started in the lower level of the house, but no one was inside. No injuries were reported in either fire.