Two fires vex the Five Towns in Hewlett and Cedarhurst

At 10:30 a.m. on Everit Avenue in Hewlett, there was a fire involving a Sanitary District 1 garbage truck on Oct. 24.

Gerard LeClair, the road superintendent for Hewlett Harbor, was at the scene at the time of the incident. After spotting smoke emanating from the truck, he used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, according to Doreen Grace, the deputy village clerk.

“The (Hewlett) fire department told us that him doing that did help to contain the fire,” Grace said.

George Pappas, the superintendent of S.D. 1 said the cause of the fire is unknown.

“We don’t know how it started, chemicals or battery exploded or something but our first priority is to just get it controlled,” he said.

In Cedarhurst, a second-story house fire at 49 Columbia Ave. resulted in the blocking off of the cross streets Central Avenue and Broadway. The Lawrence-Cedarhurst and Inwood fire departments were among the first responders on  the scene, along with paramedics and police, officials said.