by Cris Italia
According to Kris Andoos, the Oceanside Fire Department Chief, Gator Transport hold garbage on their property from construction sites before it's shipped somewhere else. Companies bring in their unprocessed construction debris here, then they pulverize it and transport it out, Andoos explained.
The fire started outside, it might have been some debris that came in during a transport, the fire then spread into the building, Andoos said.
Smoke covered most of the oil city section of Oceanside. The blaze began just before 4 p.m., Andoos said by 6 p.m. the fire was under control. We [had] to go through each piece of debris with a crane and make sure there won't be any other fires breaking out, Andoos said.
Upon their arrival firefighters were faced with a little adversity. Two hydrants on Brown Court were inoperable, leaving them with one option. We had to draft the water from the canal, Andoos said.
At approximately 5 p.m. the Long Island Rail Road was shut down, because, the storage building was in danger of collapsing. The 125-foot building which contain a crusher and garbage was eventually knocked down so fire fighters could gain access inside.
Workers in the area claimed that Gator Transport takes on too much, and the fire was not a surprise. The garbage just builds up for a long time. Some of that garbage has been there for at least two years, said Dan Conlon, an employee of Casings of New Jersey Inc., which owns an office in oil city.
Andoos confirmed a fire in the same area a week earlier. It happens, but there isn't anything we can say to [the company] to prevent this fire from happening, Andoos said.
Gator Transport did not return phone calls as of press time on Monday.
Two firefighters were hurt, but treated and released from South Nassau Communities hospital. Fire companies from ten different neighboring towns assisted in putting out the fire. The fire companies included; Baldwin, East Rockaway, Free Port, Hewlet, Island Park, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Oceanside, Point Lookout, and Rockville Centre.
