Firefighters battle Canals blaze

Canals residents John O’Grady and Kurt Kress were just two weeks away from moving back into the newly renovated house from which they have been displaced since Hurricane Sandy. That all changed on July 18, when a fire ripped through their Armour Street home.

“Everything was going great,” O’Grady said. “We were very excited to get back in, and now … that’s not going to happen. And now I have to deal with this.”

At 2:45 p.m. last Thursday, the Long Beach Fire Department received a call reporting a fire at 11 Armour St., Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins said. Seven local departments responded, and Kemins said that the blaze took about 30 minutes to extinguish.

Firefighters from the Long Beach, Point Lookout-Lido, Island Park, Oceanside, Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Inwood and Rockville Centre departments helped to control the blaze on a sweltering day. Additionally, an ambulance was sent from Atlantic Beach, and the Baldwin Fire Department was on standby, Kemins said. News helicopters could be seen overhead.

Homeowners in the neighborhood said that the Long Island Power Authority shut off power in the area during the fire.

Kemins said that the blaze started at the rear of the house, and that both the second floor and attic were heavily damaged. Long Beach firefighters arrived on the scene within minutes of the call and stretched a hose line to the rear of the home and another to the attic.

“The fire did not start in the house,” said O’Grady, who arrived home from a dentist appointment to find flames and smoke billowing from his home. “It started on the outside. I know for a fact because I was one of the first people to see it. It started in the back.”

Witnesses said that the blaze was contained quickly, and that firefighters prevented it from spreading to many nearby homes, in a neighborhood where a raging fire destroyed eight homes during Sandy. “Other nearby homes had minimal damage due to the quick work of the firemen,” one person said.