Area houses caught ablaze during Independence Day week

As the Independence Day festivities went on, the Valley Stream Volunteer Fire Department fire crew were on the move answering not only to automatic fire alarms and ambulance calls, but  a spate of house fires. In fact, the department quenched three of them in less than six hours.

At 8:30 p.m., Engine 344 and Tower Ladder 345 aided the Elmont Fire Department at a house fire on Parkhurst Road where crews operated on scene for over an hour. While the firefighters were returning to town from Elmont, the department was alerted to another house caught aflame at Sandelwood Drive where Engine 344 and Tower Ladder 345 first arrived on scene. The fire, which broke out in the kitchen, was shortly knocked down. One resident, suffering from smoke inhalation, was transported to a nearby hospital.

Just before 2:30 a.m. the next morning, firefighters responded to a basement fire on Benedict Ave where smoke was found billowing throughout the home. The fire was quickly extinguished with Engine 342 and Ladder 346 first on scene. All operations were under the command of Chief of Department Patrick Scanlon.