By Lauren Young
A house on Strawberry Lane in the town of Manlius is now a “total loss” after suffering a fire Tuesday afternoon. According to Manlius Fire Chief Brad Pinsky, the house was already engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived, smoke billowing from the home and burning through the roof, deeming nothing to be salvageable.
At around 1 p.m. on Dec. 3, a resident reported the fire on 7498 Strawberry Lane, off Salt Springs Road, to Onondaga County, said Pinsky. Though the fire was knocked down a little after 2 p.m., it resulted in a complete destruction of property. No residents were home at the time and no firefighters were injured, however, it is unknown if any pets survived.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Pinsky said.
The lack of a fire hydrant was a major issue in the process, and Pinsky said was grateful for the response of other departments in assisting to bring water to the fire, including firefighters from Fayetteville, South Onondaga, Pompey Hill, Fabius, Chittenango, LaFayette, Cazenovia and Minoa.
Fire crews remained on scene after 5 p.m. to extinguish hot spots and investigate. The Red Cross is currently assisting the family.
Within hours of the fire, a GoFundMe page was created by the Taber family to support the Paolini family after their house burnt to the ground.
“The house is a complete loss, and all their belongings in the house are lost,” read the page. “Within hours, friends and neighbors from the F-M community started to reach out to see what they can do. We set up this GoFundMe for the Paolini family to help them recover from this.”
According to the GoFundMe page, their family dog is missing.
Of its $25,000 goal, the page has already raised $25,675 as of Thursday, Dec. 6.
Visit Gofundme.com/paolini-fire to donate to the Paolini family.
