Fire heavily damaged a house on Rowley Street in Rochester early Thursday morning.
Neighbors reported hearing an explosion shortly after 4:00 am and looked out to find the house on fire. Firefighters arrived within four minutes and found heavy smoke and fire coming from the 2 1/2 story house. An extra company was called to the scene.
Firefighters say the fire was difficult to control because it burned through all three floors and destroyed the interior stairs.
The building turned out to be vacant and under renovation. The cause of the fire was determined to be spontaneous combustion in oily rags and sawdust that had been left behind from refinishing the floors.