Photo courtesy of Gowanda Fire Department

DAYTON – A house appears to have been destroyed in a blaze Wednesday evening.

According to the Gowanda Fire Department’s Facebook page, around 6 p.m. they were dispatched to assist the Dayton Fire Department with a fully involved structure fire on Bentley Road.

Initial reports indicated a barn had caught fire, but later reported updates show the structure was actually a large house.

The Gowanda Fire Department reported that fire also spread and started to burn brush and grass beyond the property. “We were met with a wall of fire from all the high swamp grass burning towards the road. Fire crews had to extinguish the tall grass and brush fire before they could enter the driveway. The fire definitely threw many curve balls to the first responders. Crews had to do extensive overhaul to extinguish the fire. Tanker shuttles were set up to bring in water to extinguish the fire. Manpower from several agencies were needed to extinguish both the structures and grass-brush fires that spread,” the department said on Facebook.

Dayton Fire was assisted from the following departments: (Chautauqua County) Forestville, Sunset Bay, Cherry Creek and Irving; (Cattaraugus County) South Dayton, Leon, Conewango, Perrysburg, Versailles, Gowanda and Cattaraugus; (Erie County) Seneca Fire, Collins, Collins Center, Lawtons, and Hamburg. The Hamburg Fire Department was dispatched to the scene for the use of its drown to get an aerial view of the property to see where the fire had extended to. The North Collins Fire Department stood by at Gowanda while they were out at the scene.

The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s and state Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers also assisted at the scene.