Vacant apartment building fire in Syracuse could take ‘all day’ to extinguish, fire chief says

Syracuse, N.Y. — A vacant apartment building on the Near West Side of Syracuse that caught fire early Thursday morning could take all day to extinguish, according to the Syracuse fire chief.
Heavy smoke and flames could be seen coming from four floors of the five-story apartment building at 153-157 Seymour St. when firefighters arrived, Syracuse Fire Chief Michael Monds said.
Smoke and the smell of the fire was noticeable from miles away.
Around 5:25 a.m., a 911 caller reported they saw fire coming from the first floor of a building on Shonnard Street, according to Onondaga County 911 Center Dispatch reports.
The caller told dispatchers they didn‘t have an exact address, but that firefighters “couldn’t miss it.”
Monds said fire crews tried to stretch a hose inside the building, but the volume of fire was too heavy. Firefighters then fought the fire from the outside using master streams — a high-volume water delivery system used by firefighters to extinguish large fires.
“The fire’s been real problematic,” Monds said. “It’s been spreading in all the void spaces.”
Six fire trucks used their master streams to pour thousands of gallons of water onto the fire, Monds said.
The building is supposed to be vacant, but has had a history of fires, Monds said.
On May 3, 2023, four Syracuse firefighters were injured trying to put out the fire and a person was found inside the building disoriented, he said.
Monds said the fire department will work with the city Codes Enforcement Division to try and keep people from entering the building.
“There’s been so many fires in this building,” Monds said. “There’s burnt out floors, there’s probably drug paraphernalia, and debris inside. It just wasn’t worth the risk to have firefighters go inside.”
At some point, however, Monds said fire crews might go inside to locate the fire, confine and extinguish it depending on the structure stability.
Monds said fire crews will be on scene all day checking for pockets of fire. Some smoldering in the building could quickly turn back into fire, he said.
Firefighters were still working to extinguish the fire at 7:30 a.m.
The building is owned by Seymour Luxury Residence, a limited liability company based in Brooklyn, according to county records.
The 4-story apartment building was built in 1940, country records show. It has about 40 units.
The city declared the building unfit for occupancy on in December 2021, according to city records. In the past five years, the building has been cited for code violations 90 times.
Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at [email protected]