A 37-year-old Buffalo firefighter died while fighting a four-alarm blaze on Main Street downtown that may have been sparked by work being done on the structure with blowtorches and appeared to cause a phenomenon known as a backdraft.
The firefighter’s identity was not released.
Videos of the fireball that occurred from the apparent backdraft have circulated in social media. The firefighter who died was caught in a partial building collapse and trapped about 30 to 40 feet inside, Renaldo said. The rest of the firefighters had to evacuate the building.
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