Friday, April 3, 2015

OVERLOADED ELECTRICAL CONNECTION STARTED DEADLY ROOSEVELT HOUSE FIRE THAT ALSO INJURED 2 IN NEW YORK






ROOSEVELT, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

APRIL 3, 2015

An overloaded electrical connection started a fire that left a 50-year-old man dead and a man and woman injured Friday morning, destroying a single-room occupancy home in Roosevelt, police and fire officials said.

The Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office division supervisor for the fire investigations, James Hickman, told media at the scene that the fire began in a first-floor bedroom, then spread throughout the 2½-story home on Debevoise Avenue -- a home occupied by at least 10 adults.  The fire occurred about 2:20 a.m., police said.

Roosevelt Fire Chief Derrick Fennell said that it wasn't until at least 30 minutes after arriving at the blaze that firefighters were advised there might be someone missing. That was when, he said, the man's body was discovered

His identity is being withheld "pending positive identification through DNA," Nassau police said in news release.

The man was found dead in a second-floor bedroom, Fennell said.

"The fire started in a front room, a front bedroom, as the result of an electrical accident," Hickman said. "The fire then spread rapidly into the house, up the staircase, up through the walls -- engulfing the house."

Fennell said fire was everywhere when he and his firefighters arrived on the scene.

"Upon my arrival, the whole front of the house was fully involved," Fennell said, "and you had people self-evacuating."

Two occupants -- a man and a woman -- were injured when they jumped from a second-floor window, fire officials said. The man suffered an ankle injury, Fennell said. The woman injured her hand.

Fennell said both were taken by South Hempstead Fire Department ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre for treatment. They were treated and released, police said.

A spokesman for the Red Cross on Long Island said the agency has placed nine adults who lived in the home in a motel at least through the weekend. The agency also distributed debit cards to the victims, who are also being offered mental health counseling services, he said.

More than 100 firefighters from Roosevelt, Hempstead, Uniondale, Baldwin, South Hempstead, Merrick, Freeport, North Bellmore and North Merrick responded, officials said. Investigators from the Nassau County police Arson / Bomb Squad, including a canine unit, also went.

Police said the cause of the fire did not appear to be suspicious as it was "caused by an overloaded electrical connection."

Fennell said he ran past a burning mattress on a sidewalk -- about 40 feet from the front door of the home -- when he arrived at the fire scene.

A neighbor told Newsday the mattress had been on the porch before the fire, but officials did not immediately say if it played a role in the fire.

The neighbor, Ashley Fernandez, said she and a friend heard a woman yelling, then looked out to see the blaze.

"She just started yelling and screaming out names, so everyone could wake up and get out of the house," Fernandez said.

Source:newsday.com