Pine St. apartment house takes heavy damage in fire said to have started on porch

The back porch of a first-floor apartment where an eyewitness says she first saw smoke. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - Four families are homeless but the good news is everyone got out OK after an apartment building caught fire on Pine Street Friday afternoon.
Julie Schell, who lives next door, called the fire in around 4 p.m. after the stench of acrid smoke prompted her to look out her kitchen window, which is directly across from the first-floor back porch of the apartment house at 35 Pine St.
Schell said after flames peeled off the residence's siding, the blaze quickly spread out toward the street.
She said there was a lot of smoke pushed out onto Pine Street due to a stiff breeze.
Pine Street is a narrow, one-way street that allows on-street parking, and firetrucks had some issues getting into position, she said.
Everyone got out safely, she said, including three dogs and two cats who were inside the building.
Schell said fire personnel looked at her surveillance video as part of their preliminary investigation into what caused the fire.
Power was cut off to the building, which took considerable damage.
It's not clear whether or not it is a total loss.
According to Rochester Fire Chief Dennis Dube, the blaze spread all the way to the attic, second-, and first-floor interior of the building.
Once the fire was extinguished firefighters swept the apartment house finding two cats safe in an apartment on the opposite end of the building.
All residents are temporarily displaced while the building is assessed, according to Dube.
The fire is under investigation by the Rochester Fire Department.
Rochester Fire was assisted on scene by Rochester Police, Frisbie EMS, and Fire Departments from Somersworth, Dover, Milton, Barrington, Durham, Lee and Berwick, Maine. Fire departments from Farmington, Newington, Lee, and Sanford, Maine, provided station coverage with off-duty Rochester Firefighters.