By Jeff Lipton
It's not right, said Inshan Mohammed, 52. We have nowhere to stay, no clothes, no food, nothing. The fire took everything from us. I need groceries.
On Wednesday, March 5, the Moham-meds and their three children two girls, ages 6 and 14, and a 15-year-old boy were asleep in their apartment above Max's Kosher Deli, at 1016 Broadway, when they were roused from their beds by a neighbor alerting them to a fire at about 11:30 p.m.
The blaze apparently broke out inside Raphaello's Salon, at 1014 Broadway, in and around an electrical panel box, said Steve Wenk, an assistant chief for the Nassau County Fire Marshal, who was called in to investigate. The fire spread up and out from there.
Wenk said the fire caused substantial damage to the salon, the First Choice Cellular shop next door, at 1012 Broadway, which was still decorated with a grand opening sign, as well as Max's. At least eight people from two families living in two apartments above the shops were evacuated, including the Mohammeds. No one was reported injured, officials said.
Wenk said the cause of the fire was listed as undetermined, but it was not believed to be suspicious. The investigation is continuing. It is certainly possible that it was electrical in nature, Wenk said last Friday. Some interviews are still being conducted with people who were last in the buildings.
Several firefighters from Woodmere, Hewlett, Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Inwood and Valley Stream fought the blaze into the early morning before it was brought under control. Although the fire was mostly contained to the salon, the smoke and heat spread to the apartments above and the stores on either side of the salon, causing substantial damage to the salon and structural and heavy smoke damage to the apartments and the two other shops, Wenk said.
Firefighters were called back to the scene at about 7:45 a.m. the following morning, when the stubborn blaze apparently re-ignited. They were called back to the scene for a secondary fire that erupted, Wenk said. Essentially, this was the result of the first fire. There were some voids and inaccessible areas not necessarily observed during the first fire.
It was the same location, and this one was [of] undetermined [cause] and not suspicious, Wenk said. It caused a substantial amount of damage to the remainder of the building. There was some smoke and structural damage to the same three stores and everything above.
One firefighter suffered a minor heat exhaustion and was treated at the scene, Wenk said.
The blazes left the apartments uninhabitable. Inshan Mohammed and his wife stood across the street in the chilly air on Thursday, March 6 as snow and sleet pelted the street, watching as firefighters worked feverishly until about 9:30 a.m. to contain the second blaze and make sure no embers were still smoldering.
The Mohammeds said they had nowhere to go and were staying with a kind friend, Charlie Beissel, who took them into his Hewlett home. The Mohammeds owned a deli for 25 years in Trinidad, and lived in the same building when a fire destroyed both. They arrived in Woodmere about six months ago, and Inshan took a job pumping gas in Hewlett and his 42-year-old wife took a job as a babysitter to help pay their bills. Their children are attending Hewlett High School.
After our house and business burned down in Trinidad, we moved here to try and start a new life Ñ and now this disaster happens, said Inshan as he stood, watching in disbelief, as his new home went up in flames. It's crazy, man.
The Red Cross was on the scene to assist any displaced families, but Mohammed said he did not know what the future held for him and his family. He offered this plea: We need help right now with food, clothes, anything. We have nothing. The fire took everything.
Anyone interested in helping out may call Beissel on his cell phone at 646-207-4723.
Wenk said that at this time of year, weather plays a part in firefighters' ability to battle a blaze, and that the icy and snowy conditions didn't help them. That's why we constantly rotate crews, he said.
For Sy Glass, president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, who has worked hard to beautify the commercial strip and surrounding areas, the fire is a big setback. It's a terrible thing to happen here in town, Glass said, staring at the now boarded-up stores. We want the town cleaned up. We want to fix it up.
Donald Pearlstein, who runs Justin's Hardware Store two stores down from the blaze, said the firefighters did a damn good job of keeping the fire from spreading farther.
