2 firefighters recovering after shooting

Two firefighters wounded by a gunman who set his upstate New York house ablaze and killed two of their colleagues were recovering Wednesday and said they were thankful for the support they've received.

Investigators, meanwhile, traced the gunman's weapons and tried to confirm that a body found in his destroyed house was his sister's.

West Webster volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, who had been in guarded condition, were upgraded to satisfactory condition Wednesday at Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital. Strong released a statement from them saying they were "humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of well wishes for us and our families."

The firefighters said their "thoughts and prayers" were with the families of colleagues Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka, killed by William Spengler Jr., a felon barred from having guns. Funerals are set for the next few days for Chiapperini and Kaczowka.

Authorities said Spengler set a car on fire and touched off an "inferno" in his Webster home along the Lake Ontario shore and opened fire on the first firefighters to arrive at about 5:30 a.m. Monday.

Spengler, 62, traded rifle fire with a Webster police officer who had accompanied the firefighters and then killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

Investigators found a typed letter laying out Spengler's intention to destroy his neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people." They believe remains found in the burned home are those of his sister Cheryl Spengler.

Authorities did not explain how Spengler, who served time for his grandmother's beating death, got three guns that were found with his body, including a military-style Bushmaster .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver.

The rifle is the same make and caliber as one used by a gunman to massacre 20 children and six women at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school earlier this month.

Spengler spent 17 years in prison for beating his paternal grandmother to death with a hammer in 1980. He had been released from parole on the manslaughter conviction in 2006, and authorities said they had had no encounters with him since.