Fire struck a downtown Rochester building early Friday morning, forcing the Rochester fire department to call a second alarm and send out more manpower.
The department says crews arrived just before 1:30 a.m. to find smoke and flames coming from the rear of the first floor patio at 242 South Avenue Extended. The building has the Side Bar on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors. It’s next to the condominium building at 1 Capron Street where the alarm was first raised.
A spokesman says the fire was out in less than half-an-hour. Nobody was in the South Avenue building, but the roughly 30 people living in the next door condos had to be evacuated. They all got out safely. There was significant smoke and water damage to some of the condo properties plus fire and water damage to the commercial building.