WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Two volunteer firefighters are dead, and two others are hospitalized in critical condition, after someone opened fire on them this morning as they responded to a pre-dawn house fire near Rochester, N.Y.
There's no word on what happened to the shooter or shooters -- but the sheriff says there is currently no active shooter at the scene.
Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn says the first Webster police officer who arrived on the scene exchanged gunfire with a shooter.
The sheriff says the fire department received a report of a car and house on fire early today, and when firefighters responded, they were hit by gunfire. Officials say the fire started in one home and spread to two others and a car.
Webster is now the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row. Last year, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it on fire, killing his father and two brothers. He's being prosecuted as an adult.
