Firefighter remains hospitalized after early-morning Baldwinsville house fire

A firefighter remained hospitalized Monday afternoon after an early-morning house fire on Hunter Drive in the Town of Van Buren area of Baldwinsville. The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office said the firefighter was still in the hospital as crews and investigators continued to sort out how the blaze started.

The fire was reported around 4:51 a.m. Sunday, drawing a response to a residential street in a section of Baldwinsville served in part by the Baldwinsville Volunteer Fire Company and the North West Fire District. Officials have not released details about the firefighter’s injuries, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The injury adds to a stretch of serious house fires in Baldwinsville that have already put residents and responders under strain. In May, a Baldwinsville home fire left one person dead and another in critical condition, and weeks later the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office said 75-year-old Raymond Loveless died from injuries sustained in that blaze.

For Onondaga County fire crews, the latest incident again put a familiar local risk in focus: residential fires that can turn dangerous within minutes, especially when they strike before sunrise. Investigators have not said whether any specific cause or contributing factor has been identified in the Hunter Drive fire, and no additional information on the firefighter’s condition was released beyond the sheriff’s office update Monday afternoon.