At approximately 2:07 pm on November 18, 2024 the Jefferson County 911 Dispatch Center received a call from a person stating he had received several motion activations from his trail camera and he had discovered they may have been caused by smoke and that his parents' house may be on fire.  

At 2:08 PM the Lorraine Fire department was dispatched for a report of a possible structure fire at 2739 Town Line Road in the Town of Lorraine with Adams Fire Department as Automatic Mutual Aid.  

Lorraine Fire Chief Mark Shelmidine observed a large amount of smoke while responding to the incident and requested mutual aid from Mannsville-Manor, Adams Center and Lacona (from Oswego County) Fire Departments. The incident was located approximately seven miles from Lorraine’s station with mutual aid units traveling from ten to fourteen miles to reach the scene.  

Upon arrival Lorraine Assistant Chief Brian Soules discovered a single-family residence on a very narrow rural road fully involved in fire. An initial attack was made with the deck gun on Lorraine’s Engine 28-4-1.

Adams Engine 1-4-2 was rerouted to a fill site approximately one mile from the scene to fill tankers. Adams Truck 1-8-1 was moved into position to get its tower in the air to reach the deep seated fire in the collapsed building. Tankers from Lorraine, Adams Center, Mannsville-Manor and Lacona shuttled water to the scene.  

Lorraine Fire responded with an engine, tanker and rescue. Adams Fire responded with two engines, truck, rescue and squad, Mannsville-Manor Fire responded with a tanker. Lacona Fire responded with an engine and tanker. Adams Center responded with an engine, tanker and rescue.  Units remained on the scene for several hours. 

Fire Investigators from the Jefferson County Office of Fire and Emergency Management are handling the investigation and no cause has been determined as of this date.