Elmont sees two fires in three days

The Elmont Fire Department was kept on its toes last weekend, responding to two building fires in a three-day span.

On Friday, a fire started on the second floor of a two-story, single-family home at 120 Stone St. Mike Capoziello, first assistant chief of the department, said that the blaze occurred at around 9:29 a.m., and the department received its first call at 9:34.

Two rooms on the second floor of the dwelling were damaged, Capoziello said, but no one was injured in the fire. It was reported by the owner of the home, and Capoziello was on the scene within four minutes of the call, he said. Four minutes after he arrived, he said, a Firefighter Assist and Search Team truck was on the scene.

FASTs are used by the Franklin Square, Valley Stream and Floral Park fire departments, Capoziello explained. When one department is fighting a fire, another department backs up those firefighters as a FAST, in case something goes wrong.

It took the Elmont department approximately 20 minutes to gain control of the fire, Capoziello said, adding that the cause was being investigated by Nassau County Fire Marshal Joseph Wittaker, but it appears to have been an electrical fire.

On Sunday, a vacant two-story building at 361 Hempstead Turnpike caught fire at around 6:49 a.m. The blaze started on the second floor.

Capoziello said that the second fire’s cause was unknown and under investigation by the fire marshal, but the department received reports that the door to the building door was open prior to the fire. It was deemed “suspicious” by the department.

“People could have been staying in there to stay warm,” Capoziello said, adding that the building also caught of fire in 2007, the cause undetermined.

The F.D. was on the scene within three minutes of the first call, and responded with 75 firefighters and 12 pieces of equipment, he said. The Franklin Square Fire Department arrived to serve as a FAST minutes later.

No one was injured in the fire, but one firefighter slipped on some ice while working to put out the fire and was transported to Winthrop Hospital.

Capoziello said the vacant building was destroyed by the fire, and Town of Hempstead Buildings Commissioner John Rottkamp pronounced it a total loss. It was demolished later that afternoon, Capoziello said.