Fire at abandoned Rochester home full of bullets called ‘suspicious’

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Rochester firefighters are calling an early Monday morning fire at an abandoned home filled with bullets "suspicious."

Crews went to the scene at a home on Burbank Street near Remington Street just after midnight. When they got there, firefighters said they saw "heavy" flames flowing out of the second floor. The flames reportedly came close to the home next door.

Firefighters told News10NBC they weren’t initially able to get into the house because the first-floor windows were boarded up, and because the "large" quantity of bullets was discharging due to being close to the flames. A series of loud popping sounds could be heard as crews fought the flames.

"Yeah when we hear sounds like that, we try to balance the aggressive attack with the safety of our people," Battalion Chief for the Rochester Fire Department Patrick Agostinelli said. "In this case, it gave us some time to breathe. And by the time we had all the windows opened up, the boards taken off, and some ventilation going, the popping stopped, and then we were able to make an aggressive interior attack."

The fire was quickly knocked down, and crews found nobody inside. Besides being boarded up, RFD says investigators found evidence people were going into it on a regular basis.

No cause was released.