By Jeff Lipton
Last Friday morning she watched helplessly as a raging fire tore through the structure, destroying it in a matter of hours and taking with it much of D¹Amaro¹s hard work.
The owner of Sea Coast Realty since 1995, D¹Amaro could only watch as more than 100 firefighters battled the quick-moving blaze at 4584 Austin Blvd. and tried to keep it from spreading to nearby shops. About 10 businesses in the two-story commercial structure, including D¹Amaro¹s, were lost. The others included Sher¹s Barber Shop, several telemarketers, a computer processing service, a debt consolidator and a pharmaceutical business.
³A part of me died,² D¹Amaro said after watching the fire rip through her business. ³It was a big piece of me ‹ it was my livelihood.²
Amid the ashes, she managed to salvage only a couple of fireproof file cabinets and her Sea Coast Realty awning. ³I lost everything,² D¹Amaro said, trying to hold back tears. ³I¹m still in shock. I¹m distraught.²
Nonetheless, she said she was thankful the fire erupted at about 4:30 a.m., when the building was unoccupied and no one was injured.
Vincent McManus, a supervisor with the Nassau County Fire Marshal¹s Office, said the initial investigation showed that the blaze started in Sher¹s on the first floor and rapidly spread to the second floor. ³It did spread quickly, and wind was definitely a factor,² McManus said.
He explained that the Island Park Buildings Department inspected the structure and is leaning toward having it demolished. ³There¹s definitely concern about one wall,² McManus said, adding that the partially collapsed roof also posed a danger.
He said that for a limited time, business owners were allowed into the building to retrieve whatever possessions they could salvage, and that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
D¹Amaro had worked in the building since 1990, when she started out as a real estate agent in the former Beach Coast Realty. She eventually took over the business and renamed it Sea Coast Realty, which she has run since 1995 with her sister. D¹Amaro said she also managed the building, helping its owner rent out space.
She had to relocate her business to 4043 Long Beach Road, at the corner of Saratoga Avenue, in Island Park. She said she hoped to open this week. The owners of the other businesses that occupied the building could not be reached for comment, and it is unknown what they plan to do now that the building will most likely be torn down.
D¹Amaro said she lives only a short distance from the building, and was awakened by the sound of fire trucks racing toward it. She said she hurried to the scene and stood there in shock ³all morning, watching the whole thing burn down.²
Firefighters from about a dozen area fire departments battled to contain the blaze in frigid temperatures for two to three hours, and were on the scene a total of seven hours, until 11:30 a.m., making sure the fire was extinguished. Island Park Fire Chief Robert Wells said that when he arrived, the structure was already fully engulfed. ³The flames were coming out of the windows,² Wells said. ³It was pretty intense. After we saw how bad it was, we called other fire departments to assist us.²
Also arriving on the scene were departments from Oceanside, Long Beach, Point Lookout, Rockville Centre, East Rockaway, Freeport, Lynbrook, Merrick, North Merrick, Baldwin and Valley Stream.
At one point during the blaze, the building¹s roof partially collapsed, and firefighters working inside were ordered to leave the building immediately. ³That¹s when we had to pull everyone out,² Wells said.
When the roof caved in, D¹Amaro said she knew that was the end of the building. ³At first I thought it would be OK, and then when the firemen had to evacuate the building, I knew that was it for the building,² she said.
Police from the 4th Precinct closed Austin Boulevard as well as the adjoining Long Beach Road to traffic as firefighters struggled to contain the stubborn blaze. They were successful in preventing the blaze from spreading to an adjacent group of stores, Wells said. ³It could have been a lot worse,² he said. ³The fire could have jumped to those stores. It was a huge effort on everyone¹s part.²
Debris that fell off the building during the fire and littered the roadway had to be cleaned up. Long Beach Road was reopened to traffic about 8:45 a.m., and Austin Boulevard at around 11:30 a.m. after firefighters had left.
The Nassau County chapter of the American Red Cross was on the scene to serve firefighters water and coffee.
D¹Amaro said that since the fire, other real estate businesses have contacted her to see if she needed any assistance. She said she is in desperate need of desks and chairs and office supplies, and that anyone who wants to help can call her at (516) 897-SOLD. She had her business number forwarded to her so that she could continue to help clients. ³The business has to go on,² she said.
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
