Story/Photos by Jack Healy
Thanks to the quick actions of Jeffrey Zieniewicz, a neighbor, a near
tragedy was averted in Seaford at an early
morning house fire on Monday, August 6, when fire engulfed the
house.
Mr. Zieniewicz who woke up early on Monday morning could hear a
crackling noise and smelled smoke from his house which is across the
street from the fire scene. Not knowing what was creating this noise or
the smell of smoke he went into his back yard and saw flames coming from
across the street. He instructed his wife Susan to call the Seaford
Fire Department as he ran across the street and began banging and
kicking at the front door of the house to awaken the three male
occupants who were a sleep in upstairs bedrooms. The occupants had
trouble at first exiting the house but they did escape safely prior to
the arrival of the fire department.
Once outside the occupants grab a garden hose and tried to extinguish
the fire which was starting to swallow up the entire rear of the house
but couldn't turn on the water. An aluminum beer keg on the deck
exploded narrowing missing one of the occupants. The liquid in the keg reached a
temperature significantly above its normal boiling point and the aluminum keg
failed to contain the liquid, causing the vessel to explode. The keg hit the roof of a nearby house.
Seaford firefighters under the command of Chief George Kern were on the
scene within minutes of the alarm and entered the house through the
front door with hose lines, pushing the fire back to the rear of the
house. As the fire was being brought under control inside the house,
firefighters extinguished the fire that had been burning on the rear
deck and the exposed surfaces of the house.
One Seaford firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and was treated at the
scene. There were no other reported injuries. Fire units from Wantagh
and Massapequa Fire Departments provide mutual aid at the scene of the fire.
Chief Kern commended the efforts of his firefighters and those of the
Wantagh and Massapequa Fire Departments. The alarm of fire was reported
at 3:45 am and the last fire units left the scene of the fire at 5:57
am.
Units from the Seaford fire department were called back again to later in the day to investigate some potential hot
spots.
