Crime & Safety
Fire Starts at Home of Ex-New Hyde Park Fire Commissioner
Fire allegedly started in garbage can and traveled up side of home.
A fire broke out at the Falmouth Avenue home of an ex-commissioner of the New Hyde Park Fire Department early Friday morning.
Firefighters responded to an alarm at the home of former commissioner John Brown at 1629 Falmouth Ave. at about 12:42 a.m. when a person across the street called in the alarm. Fire personnel were at the nearby Applebee's on Leonard Boulevard and Jericho Turnpike when the call arrived and rushed to the scene. Joining them were other companies from Floral Park, Elmont and Mineola.
Brown had exited the home and was met by chief Scott Waldron, to whom he indicated he had fire in the two upstairs bedrooms on the western side of the home.
"It wasn't that smoky yet," said Nick Brown, who awoke to find smoke in his room and was standing outside his home with his sister Lizzy. "I'm not sure where it started, it started on the side of the house, I think."
The two indicated that they would be staying at a friend's home until it was safe to go back into their home. No injuries were reported at the scene. The fire was extinguished at about 1 a.m.
"It looked like it started outside in the garbage can by the back stairs," Waldron said. "It could be from cigarettes, it could be from garbage he might have thrown out, he might have had some oil in there or something."
The fire had traveled up the side of the home, melting the plastic siding and also causing damage to the siding of the neighboring home as well via radiant heat.
"Supposedly what happened is they were sleeping so if you've got a fire on the outside with the plastic siding, once that catches fire, that's going to take off," Waldron said. "It was pretty advanced by the time they actually got the notice of it."
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