By MIKE CAPUTO
According to East Meadow Fire Chief Eric Becker, a team of responders in a burning home at 27 Canyon Lane in Salisbury made the emergency call when they realized the floor was beginning to collapse. "Then we pulled everyone back," Becker said.
The firefighters managed to retreat as the first floor collapsed into the basement, officials said.
Responders who initially arrived at the burning home at 9:46 p.m. were met by heavy flames, officials said.
The home was occupied by between four and six people at the time of the call, but no one was inside when firefighters arrived, Becker said.
After the decision was made to retreat, firefighters used defensive tactics, putting hose lines through the windows and successfully knocking down the main body of fire, Becker explained. Firefighters were then able to go back inside the home and gain control of the fire, which was believed to have originated in the basement and then spread to the first and second floors and into the attic.
The chief noted that it was unusual for a fire to be as well developed as it was when the department arrived. "It is very, very strange to have that much fire in an occupied dwelling at that hour of the night," Becker said. "It is very unordinary, a very weird thing to ... pull up and see that much fire at the structure."
The chief declined to comment further. The names of the occupants were not released, and information on who owned the home could not be obtained as of press time.
Investigators from the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office are looking into the incident. A call seeking an update was not returned.
Approximately 75 firefighters from East Meadow responded to the scene, officials said, and the fire was deemed under control in just over an hour, at 10:50 p.m. Two of the home's occupants were treated for minor injuries, officials said, and there were no reported injuries to emergency responders.
The Levittown, North Bellmore, Hicksville and Wantagh fire departments provided mutual aid at the scene.
Earlier in the evening, East Meadow firefighters had celebrated the swearing-in of eight members, some of whom responded to their first incident an hour and a half later. "They actually got a nice initiation," Becker said.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
