Firefighters take on BP gas station store blaze

A BP gas station convenience store suffered severe damage to the building’s exterior side after a fast-growing fire threatened to engulf the store, fire officials said. The Nassau County Fire Communications Office alerted the village’s fire department of the gas station blaze at the intersection of North Central Avenue and Stein Street last Thursday morning at 5:20 a.m.

Upon the arrival of First Assistant Chief Anthony Capone, a call for mutual aid was sent out to fire departments in nearby towns. Engine 344 first arrived on the scene and stretched a hose line to help douse the fire. With the aid of other arriving engine companies, a second hose line was stretched, and the fire was extinguished.

Fire officials later revealed that pallets loaded with hand sanitizer had caught aflame, making the fire more difficult to extinguish as it consumed a nearby dumpster and started burning the store. Fire officials also noted that the working fire could have grown at a dangerous rate had it come in contact with a nearby forklift carrying propane.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Nassau County Fire Marshal’s Office, according to officials. All operations were under the command of Chief of Department Patrick J. Scanlon.