The fire William Spengler Jr. set to his home also destroyed seven other houses.
WEBSTER, N.Y. -- Monday morning, when John Kohut heard about the fire on his street, where his neighbor set his own home on fire then fatally ambushed first responders, he raced back to Webster from Rochester.
But with Lake Road blocked off, all he could do was watch from a distant bluff as his house burned to the ground.
Residents returned home to a grim scene Tuesday, as investigators continued to comb through the rubble of seven destroyed homes. Two other homes were damaged and aren't livable.
Police say William Spengler Jr. set his house afire then fired on firefighters responded to the blaze. The attack left volunteer firefighters Mike Chiapperini, 43, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, dead and severely injured firefighters Joseph Hofstetter, 33, and Theodore Scardino, 48, who are in stable condition at Strong Memorial Hospital. An off-duty Greece, N.Y., police officer, John Ritter, was injured by shrapnel while attempting to protect the fallen firefighters with his car.
As police and fire officials reconstructed the scene of Monday's deadly ambush, most area residents whose homes were not among those destroyed were allowed back in.
MORE: Body found in burned home of killer of 2 firemen
Kohut finally returned to the remains of his home about 6 p.m. Tuesday.
"It's a tragedy. I want to see if I can salvage anything," said Kohut, who had lived in the house for 13 years.
Kohut, 68, who owns the Four Brothers Tavern in Rochester, said he knew William Spengler Jr. -- the man police say torched the neighborhood and shot four firefighters, two fatally. Kohut said he hadn't had problems with him.
"He was quiet, kept to himself and didn't have visitors," Kohut said. "I was shocked in a way, but I knew his history." Spengler had spent time in prison for bludgeoning his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer in 1980.
Other residents returning Tuesday found their homes largely as they'd left them.
Allison Mayer returned to her home Monday night.
"I got evacuated by a SWAT team," said Mayer, who lives about a half-mile from where William Spengler Jr. started the fire, setting a trap for first responders. "I was in my pajamas. They came through my house and evacuated us out the back, because they thought there was still a sniper out there."
She boarded a bus with neighbors whose homes were destroyed, and spent the day at a nearby school.
On Tuesday, she said, she walked toward the crime scene. Her father, who owns a nearby marina, also owned a house closer to the crime scene. That house, which was vacant, was destroyed.
Another resident, John Boccacino, said he was at home Monday morning when a SWAT team arrived.
"I heard a muffled sound outside my door ... it sounded like they were saying 'Monroe County Sheriff, come out with your hands up,'" Boccacino said
Unable to tell whether the noise was coming from his door, he peered out a window. That's when the SWAT team broke the door down.
"I raised my arms and said 'I'm a resident! I'm a resident!'" Boccacino said. He threw on a pair of shoes and ran outside, where he was whisked away on a bus with other evacuees.
"We're definitely a tight-knit community," Boccacino said, describing the street as a mix of "summer homes and hard-working families — we're just a laid-back working-class kind of neighborhood."
When he returned home Tuesday, he inspected the damage to the door and found the rest of his home undisturbed.
"The cops and firefighters, I'm thanking them for what they do for us," Boccacino said. "This could've happened in any neighborhood."
Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2012/12/26/some-neighbors-lose-homes-in-fatal-firefighter-shooting/
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