Blaze destroys two homes in Greenport
Three hospitalized with minor injuries, smoke inhalation
By Julie Lane
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Volunteers from the Greenport Fire Department were assisted in battling the blaze by firefighters from East Marion, Orient, Southold, Cutchogue, Mattituck and Shelter Island. It took three hours and 15 minutes to bring the fire under control. Greenport firefighters were dispatched to the scene at 5:34 p.m., according to a press release issued by the department. They arrived to find both buildings on fire.
Owned by the North Fork Housing Alliance, both houses had vinyl siding, resulting not only in a rapidly spreading fire but also in the release of toxic fumes into the air on a street crowded with concerned relatives, friends and neighbors, according to a firefighter who declined to give his name.
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"I hope you'll highlight no hydrants on our block," a neighbor told a Suffolk Times reporter.
Mary Saetta, whose home is immediately north of the two destroyed houses, said she was in her kitchen baking when her daughter alerted her to a fire on the porch next door, at 620 Second St. She used a garden hose to try to fight the blaze while Ronnie Pringle Jr., who lives across the street from the two houses, called 911. By the time firefighters arrived, flames had already jumped to the building at 618 Second St.
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"Thank God my kids weren't in there," he said. He lived on the ground floor with his wife and two children. His in-laws, Robert and Louise Reed, lived on the second floor. Ms. Reed was in the house, babysitting for an 8-month-old grandchild, and quickly got out with the child, Mr. Allen said.
"Work hard and you lose it all in one day," he said, as he watched firefighters attempt to bring the blaze under control. His wife and children were at the dentist at the time the fire broke out, he said.
"God works in mysterious ways," Mr. Allen said. "I know I can get material things back." But he lost wedding pictures and mementoes of Kyle Rose, a relative who drowned in a Greenport swimming pool last summer.
Charles Anthony Smith was coming home from a visit to his mother and had stopped to run some errands "when a friend told me my house was on fire." He lived at 620 Second St. A firefighter was able to recover a cash box from his bedroom that contained $5,000, he said.
"Thank God I'm alive," he said. "I've just got to start over, that's all."
Others who lived in the two houses were identified by neighbors as Laverne Allen, Louise King Sutton and Walter Chance. After being on the scene, Greenport building inspector Eileen Wingate returned to her office to issue a letter condemning the two buildings so that police would have the authorization to block people from entering the premises and looting, she said.
Mr. Smith said he was given a card enabling him to stay at Townsend Manor Tuesday night but that he would likely go to his parents' home.
Mr. Chance said he has a place to stay for a couple of weeks but doesn't know where he'll go after that.
At about 6:30 p.m., Greenport Electric Department workers disconnected power on the block, and neighbors said they were told it would be out for at least three hours. By 7:30 p.m., firefighters appeared to have the blaze under control but were expected to remain at the site for several hours Tuesday night to deal with embers.
Neighbor Claudia Helinski, owner of Salamander's Cafe on First Street, said she will be taking up a collection to help those who lost everything in the fire.
"They're in shock," Ms. Helinski said.
The Suffolk County Arson Squad is investigating the cause of the fire, Greenport Fire Chief Clifford Harris said in a statement.
Michelle Myers contributed to the reporting of this story.
