By Scott Brinton
Volunteer is charged with setting firehouse blaze
Last Thursday and Friday brought an unexpected and tragic series of events for the Bellmore Fire Department.
First, at 5 a.m. May 3, fire headquarters on Pettit Avenue, across from the Bellmore train station, went up in flames. The next day, Bellmore volunteers learned that police had arrested and charged a fellow volunteer with third-degree arson in connection with the fire.
All this came only weeks after two long-time fire-department members, William and Mary Carhuff [BEGIN BOLD](see obituary, page )[END BOLD], were involved in a fatal collision with a truck on Sunrise Highway. Mary Carhuff died in the crash, and William succumbed to injuries on April 22. Last week's events also followed Bellmore's battle with a stubborn fire that engulfed a Shore Road home on April 27 [BEGIN BOLD](see box)[END BOLD].
According to police and fire officials, Clifford Seaman, 19, a Bellmore volunteer for three years and a Nassau BOCES custodian, was charged with setting the fire that ripped through the second story of fire headquarters, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Officials offered no motive.
At a news conference at police headquarters in Mineola, Bellmore Fire Chief Robert Taylor said in reaction to the arrest: "It hurts. One bad person doesn't mean the other 80 aren't ready to protect and serve the Bellmore community. Thank God no one was seriously hurt."
Matthew Muraskin, chief attorney for the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Seaman, said his client had no criminal record before the fire. "Let's not define this guy as guilty just because there are some charges," he said.
Chief Taylor said Seaman had never been disciplined at the department.
Officials described Seaman as nervous and upset. Authorities said he got angry when Nassau Arson/Bomb Squad officers tried to handcuff him at the Bellmore firehouse. Two men were needed to subdue him, they said. Seaman was also charged with resisting arrest.
Taylor said the fire would in no way hinder Bellmore's ability to protect the community. All engines were removed from headquarters undamaged. Volunteers confined the blaze primarily to the second floor of the fire station, so the first floor, which houses the engines, is still usable. The department also boasts two other firehouses.
Al Hickey, Bellmore's public information officer, said, "These men and women of the Bellmore Fire Department make tremendous sacrifices and risk their lives to protect our community. They will continue to do so despite the hurt we all feel right now."
Firefighters from the North Bellmore, Merrick, North Merrick, Wantagh and Seaford departments were called to help battle the blaze and provide fire coverage for Bellmore and surrounding communities. More than 100 firefighters brought the fire under control in less than an hour. Three volunteers suffered minor injuries.
The fire was the second at Bellmore headquarters in five days, police said. The first was on Saturday, April 28. It broke out at 4 a.m. in the firehouse's kitchen. Volunteers extinguished the fire in short order, and moderate damage was reported. Investigation continues, but Seaman is suspected in that fire and three dumpster fires over the past year and a half.
Two fires in a week led investigators to suspect arson from the inside, as 65 volunteers were the only ones who had keys to the locked firehouse.
The Nassau County Fire Marshal's office began an investigation on Thursday, which quickly led them to Seaman. Chief Taylor said videocameras inside the firehouse had shown someone there shortly before the fire.
The fire was, in a word, intense.
Taylor was first on the scene. He immediately radioed volunteers with a "Signal 10," the code for a working fire. When volunteers arrived, they found fire racing from the first floor up through the second. They faced heavy heat and smoke as they made their way into the firehouse to knock down the fire. Flames roared up a 2 1/2-story tower that is used to dry hoses.
When all was done, the firehouse's second-story meeting hall lay in charcoal ruins. Photographs and memorabilia that cannot be replaced were lost.
Bellmore volunteers stood in "stunned silence as they viewed the remains of their fire headquarters," said spokesman Hickey.
Purple-and-black bunting, in remembrance of the Carhuffs, still was hung on walls at fire headquarters that afternoon, as volunteers scrubbed away smoke damage.
Seaman was ordered held at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow on $26,000 cash bail.
Story 2:
Photo caption #3215: Firefighters battle to bring a fire at a Shore Road home under control April 27. Volunteers faced danger, as they not only had to fight the fire but also live ammunition that was ignited by flames and heat.
Photo caption #3216: Volunteers from the Bellmore, North Bellmore and Merrick departments were called to fight the fire.
Hed: Sparks fly at Shore Rd. fire
By Scott Brinton
Fire destroyed a home at 1410 Shore Road, Bellmore, on April 27. The 10 a.m. blaze was so intense that it sent a smoke plume into the sky that could be seen from a mile away, fire officials said.
Passerby Debbie Lynagh first spotted the fire and alerted a sleeping occupant of the house by yelling and banging on the front door. The occupant suffered minor injuries after jumping from a second-floor window to escape the fire.
Volunteers faced grave danger as they battled the fire. Loads of live ammunition inside the house ignited from flames and heat. Firefighters removed as many as a dozen rifles from the tan home, and Nassau County police officers secured the weapons.
Upon arrival, volunteers found the 2 1/2-story house engulfed in flames, which were threatening to spread to neighboring homes. Firefighters brought the fire under control in 25 minutes. Bellmore Chief Robert Taylor called off an interior attack of the fire because he feared the house would collapse.
North Bellmore and Merrick volunteers aided in the firefighting effort. The Wantagh department provided a standby crew at Bellmore headquarters for additional fire protection.
The Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the fire.
Box Obituary on jump page, using small obit banner:
Remembering William Carhuff
By Al Hickey, Bellmore Fire Public Information Officer
The Bellmore Volunteer Fire Department has lost another long-time member in the wake of a fatal auto accident. Past-Commissioner William Carhuff died April 22 from injuries received in a collision with a truck on Sunrise Highway earlier in the month. That crash also claimed the life of Mary Carhuff, William's wife, a long-time member and past-president of the Bellmore Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary.
Bill Carhuff's career with the department spanned more than four decades since he took the oath of office Aug. 22, 1955. He was a member of the Advance Hook, Ladder & Engine Company No. 1. During the 1970s, he was elected commissioner and served two five-year terms in which he helped institute new ideas and safety measures for the firefighters.
He will best be remembered for his expertise with the department's old Heavy Rescue and Floodlight Truck 607. During construction of sewers in Bellmore during the 1960s, Carhuff devised a lifting rig attached to the front of Truck 607, which hoisted an injured worker 20 feet from below ground with a power winch installed on the front of the truck. The power winch was also instrumental during the fire at the old St. Barnabas Rectory.
In the private sector, Bill Carhuff was a structural steel installer. Among his jobs, he erected the steel trusses during construction of Engine Company 2's new truck room. He was later declared an honorary member of Station 2.
