Fire strikes Long Beach home

A father and son escaped a fire that broke out in the attic of their W. Penn St. home early Monday morning, in what Long Beach Fire Chief Rich Corbett described as a “labor intensive” blaze that spread through the house.

Seventy-five firefighters responded to the scene, after Corbett said that the fire travelled through a wall in the basement to the attic of the home at 628 W. Penn St. Firefighters were able to control it within 45 minutes, after receiving a call at 5:21 a.m., Corbett said.

“It was the type of construction that this house was,” Corbett said of the home, which he said was built in the 1920s or 1930s. “It was a very labor intensive, old house, so it took a lot of manpower to open up the walls and the ceilings.”

Corbett said the son was asleep on the second floor, when he smelled smoke and went downstairs to wake up his father. Corbett could not confirm if the mother was in the house during the time of the fire.

“There were no injuries, thank goodness,” Corbett said of the residents, who are listed as Jerome, Beth and Carl Kramer.

“They were out of the house prior to our arrival,” Corbett said. “The police were on the scene before we got there and confirmed with the homeowners that everybody was out.”

The house suffered smoke and water damage, as well as damage to the walls and ceilings.

While Corbett said the cause of the fire did not appear to be suspicious, the Nassau County Fire Marshall’s Office is investigating.

“It’s just a routine investigation, we just want to rule a few things out,” Corbett said.