By JUDY RATTNER
The fire started at 11:20 p.m. on the first floor of the store, near a computer and cash register. It was mostly contained a little over an hour after firefighters arrived on the scene, and was extinguished by 2:30 a.m. Fire departments from Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Lakeview and Malverne were called to the scene. Firefighters from Oceanside were on standby at Rockville Centre's fire command center, and South Hempstead sent ladder trucks to assist.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is not considered suspicious. Its origin was thought to be electrical.
"I have to tell you that the Rockville Centre Fire Department and the police were unbelievable for what they tried to do," said Keith Linsalata, Art Flowers' owner. "I cannot believe how they put themselves out on the line even when they knew it was not a residential building where there were people dwelling.
"One of my customers said a lot of people talk and say how great the fire department here is," Linsalata continued. "As far as I'm concerned this morning, they're truly God's gift for going in and putting themselves in a dangerous position to try to protect anybody's property even when they knew the building wasn't occupied. They surely did get aggressive to save as much of my building as they could. I had an insurance adjuster and an architect here this morning, and they were amazed at how they were able to contain the fire. My neighbor, the restaurant [Ayhan's], had only smoke damage, and on the other side there was no damage at all.
"We are actively getting ready to take a vacant location right up the block," Linsalata added. "We think possibly Brennan and Carr that just went out of business, or something across the street. We're immediately going to get in and go great guns and rebuild as fast as we can. I want to tell all my Rockville Centre customers, who've been so supportive over the 18 years we've been here, that we'll be back even better and stronger."
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