A fire ignited at Big Valley Nursery’s gardening supply storage building in Glen Head on April 8. It became a four-alarm fire, taking several hours to fully extinguish. The building was unoccupied. Three firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
While it is unclear what time the fire started, Glenwood Fire Company received a call at around 8:15 a.m. from Big Valley Nursery Owner Carmine Capobiano reporting the building fire. Mutual aid was automatically assigned with fire engines and trucks from other companies like Sea Cliff Fire Department, Locust Valley Fire Department and Roslyn Rescue being sent to Big Valley Nursery along with Glenwood.
According to Glenwood Fire Company Chief Donald Sinski, roughly a dozen fire companies responded with between 80 and 100 firefighters on the scene. He said it was a very hot fire with a lot of smoke, which made it difficult to put out.
“It was a metal building…and then they had some wood structure around it,” Sinski said, “so it burns hot inside.” He added that it took fire fighters roughly two hours to get the fire under control and roughly four to extinguish it entirely.
To combat the fire, firefighters used a master stream, feeding water from a fire engine to a hook and ladder truck to be sprayed at the building.
“They flow it that way to give the maximum amount of water to drown out the fire,” Sinski explained. “That's what we were looking to do.”
Firefighters continued spraying water at the building until there was no more smoke and any residual smoldering was eliminated. After putting out the fire, firefighters opened up the storage building’s sides and parts of its roof to ensure nothing was left smoldering.
“That prevents us having to go back at a later time, because sometimes they flare up again,” Sinski said. “So, we wanted to make sure we got it all at once.”
He also said the injuries to three firefighters were minor, and no one was sent to the hospital.
Ambulances from Glen Cove, Nassau County Police Department and Port Washington Fire Department were also on scene. A five-person team whose purpose is to rescue trapped firefighters during an operation was on standby but was not needed.
Fire engines and trucks from Manhassent-Lakeville Fire Department and Albertson Fire Company were sent to responding firehouses to take any calls that came in while they were fighting the fire at Big Valley Nursery.
According to Sinski, damage to the storage building was extensive, and it will have to be knocked down.
Deputy County Fire Coordinator Nick Corrado, from the Nassau County Fire Marshal’s office, said the cause of the fire is still under investigation but has been deemed not suspicious.
