Town of Onondaga, N.Y. — A blaze engulfed an apartment building Monday morning in the town of Onondaga, gutting part of the structure and leaving at least one townhouse unlivable.
No one was injured in the fire on Ponderosa Drive in the High Acres Apartments & Townhomes complex. But a dog and a number of cats are missing, said Sgt. Jon Seeber, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Firefighters rushed to Ponderosa Drive near Ball Road at 8:51 a.m. after a resident reported a fire.
A resident of townhouse 17 left home Monday morning to drop a child off at school, Seeber said. The resident came home shortly after and discovered the townhouse was on fire, he said.
A fire gutted the front of a home on Ponderosa Drive in the High Acres Apartments & Townhomes complex in the town of Onondaga on Monday, April 19, 2021.Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com
The fire — which appears to have started in the kitchen — spread to a neighboring townhouse, Seeber said. Firefighters from multiple departments, including the Onondaga Hill Fire Department, responded to the fire.
The blaze does not appear suspicious, Seeber said. The cause is under investigation.
When the blaze started, the thick gray smoke billowing from the apartment building was visible from Syracuse’s East Side. Within half an hour, the last of the stubborn flames burning the roof of the home had been put out.
The roof above the second story of townhouse 17 was completely consumed by the flames. The first story was charred and a melted screen door hung off its hinges.
The only color visible in the gutted home was on the second story, where a colorful Pokemon poster hung untouched on a sooty wall.