Thursday, October 1, 2026
Lynbrook firefighters were lucky to escape injury and burns when a fireball exploded from the attic of a house while they were searching for occupants and trying to find the cause of a fire in a two-family house at 66 Earle Avenue on April 27.
The firefighters were called to the address at 4:28 p.m., and upon the arrival of the first engine from Vulcan Company 2, found fire around the front door framing and in the small roof above the door. First Assistant Chief Michael Anderson arrived and broadcast a Signal 10 for a working fire. Although there was not much fire around the front door, heavy smoke was seen billowing from the attic eves.
Vulcan Company immediately stretched a hose line to the front of the house while manpower from the additional arriving companies stretched three additional lines. When Truck Company arrived their manpower immediately entered the building to find the main body of fire and search for any occupants. Firefighters first began attacking the fire around the front door.
When firefighters entered the house there was little smoke inside because the fire was in the front wall and climbing swiftly into the attic. Third Assistant Chief John Chavatte had just climbed the front stairs to the second floor when the ceiling above the staircase suddenly split down the middle and a fireball of fire and superheated smoke exploded down upon him from the attic. The chief, who was with firefighter Charlie D’Agostino, of Truck Company, pushed D’Agostino into the front living room and away from the fireball, but the chief, however, was thrown violently into the wall and down to the floor by the force of the explosion.
“I heard the noise behind me but didn’t know why the chief was pushing me until I turned and saw the fireball behind us,” said D”Agostino.
