Mourning a mother of 4

Neighbors of Nancy Mastrangelo remembered her as a "kind and generous person." Learning of her death last week in a small fire that broke out in her house, they appeared saddened and distraught.

"I'm very broke, just very broke," said neighbor Josephine Dario on the edge of tears.

Frank Chiachiere, a neighbor of Mastrangelo's since 1979, said he was surprised to return home from the movies last Thursday night to a street "barricaded" with emergency vehicles. He was further shocked to discover that Mastrangelo had died in the fire.

"She was a hardworking, caring mother," Chiachiere said. "It's just a tragedy."
The Malverne Fire Department responded to a call around 7:30 p.m. on March 24 at 65 Linden St., where a small blaze started in a bathroom on the first floor of the two-story home, and found 62-year-old Mastrangelo on the floor of the bathroom.

"She didn't appear to be breathing," said Malverne Fire Chief Daniel Morgan. "The ambulance tried to work on her, but obviously to no avail. Unfortunately, she passed away."

Morgan said it appears Mastrangelo suffered smoke inhalation, but the county medical examiner has yet to determine the cause of death.

Along with some 50 firefighters, the Malverne Police Department, Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office and Arson/Bomb Squad detectives responded to the scene. It took firefighters several minutes to extinguish the small fire, Morgan said, adding that the flames were contained.

"It was just contents in the bathroom burning," he said, "waste paper basket, the cabinet in there and whatever else was on the floor. There was no extension. It never got into the walls or anything."

According to Mastrangelo's youngest son, 30-year-old Bryan, his brother Jon made the unfortunate discovery. When Bryan called his mother and failed to reach her, he asked Jon, who lives nearby, to check on her. When the 31-year-old sanitation worker entered his childhood home, he found items smoldering in the bathroom and his mother unresponsive on the floor. He called Bryan shouting and panicked, and Bryan then called for help.

"We would all check on her," Bryan recently told the Herald. "And there would be at least a phone call a day. Always a phone call."