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Mostly Cloudy Fighting flames during a winter snowstorm
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“It’s tough fighting a fire in the snow because everything freezes up,” said Hewlett Fire Department Chief Otto Kohlmier. “The radios get wet, along with your gear. With everyone going inside and then outside, your body starts to freeze. The biggest problem we were worried about was someone falling down the ladder and whether the hose was going to operate. It was really hard and thankfully nobody got hurt in the fire.”
Upon the arrival of Hewlett's Engine 305, there was a heavy fire condition in the attic of a two-and-a-half story frame private dwelling, which was under renovations.
Ladder 303, also from Hewlett, arrived at the scene next and helped perform a search of the house, by opening up the ceiling and roof. Due to the renovations being done on the home, the only access to the attic was through a scuttle on the second floor which would only allow for two firefighters to go up, one at a time. Two holes were cut in the roof to assist in ventilation as well. The fire was reported under control by 12:27 p.m.
According to Kohlmier, the fire appears to have been accidentally started by the contractors repairing the heating and air conditioning units. The settling torch struck the insulator and the gas spread rapidly. The homeowners made it out of the house with no injuries.
Kohlmier was the incident commander and mutual aid came to the scene from the Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Inwood, Woodmere and Valley Stream Fire Departments with a FAST team, tower ladder, engine and two ambulances. East Rockaway and Lynbrook provided an engine, ambulance, and tower ladder to cover the rest of the district in case there was another fire.
Comments about this story? ENemeroff@ liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
Upon the arrival of Hewlett's Engine 305, there was a heavy fire condition in the attic of a two-and-a-half story frame private dwelling, which was under renovations.
Ladder 303, also from Hewlett, arrived at the scene next and helped perform a search of the house, by opening up the ceiling and roof. Due to the renovations being done on the home, the only access to the attic was through a scuttle on the second floor which would only allow for two firefighters to go up, one at a time. Two holes were cut in the roof to assist in ventilation as well. The fire was reported under control by 12:27 p.m.
According to Kohlmier, the fire appears to have been accidentally started by the contractors repairing the heating and air conditioning units. The settling torch struck the insulator and the gas spread rapidly. The homeowners made it out of the house with no injuries.
Kohlmier was the incident commander and mutual aid came to the scene from the Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Inwood, Woodmere and Valley Stream Fire Departments with a FAST team, tower ladder, engine and two ambulances. East Rockaway and Lynbrook provided an engine, ambulance, and tower ladder to cover the rest of the district in case there was another fire.
Comments about this story? ENemeroff@ liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
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