Copiague house fire displaces two families

Linda Sampra and Billy Chiarello were asleep one morning this week in their Copiague home when an ominous smell wafted through their bedroom.

"We were sleeping," Chiarello said Friday. "Linda woke up, and she smelled smoke."

The couple began searching for Sampra's four grandchildren, who lived with them in the first-floor apartment of the Maple Court house.

They found Dominic, 4, Justin, 2, and Carter, 7 months, but not Antiana, 3, who had a habit of crawling out of her bedroom and napping in hidden places in the home.

As a neighbor called 911, Chiarello went into the smoky living room and found the toddler in an armchair, according to Rose Castellano, Sampra's sister who lives next door.

"He found her with a flashlight and scooped her up," Castellano said. Without Chiarello's efforts, she added, "we wouldn't have Antiana."

All four children were ushered to safety by Sampra and Chiarello.

The fire broke out around 5:30 a.m. in the basement, officials said. Copiague, Amityville and Lindenhurst firefighters put the fire out and cleared the site by 6:54 a.m. The fire still is under investigation.

No injuries were reported, but all the family's toys and clothes are destroyed - just as Antiana's fourth birthday next week and Christmas loom.

"Everybody's distraught," Chiarello said as he sifted through soot-covered belongings. The family is seeking help finding a new home and is staying with Castellano in the meantime.

"They can't live here and there's nothing we can take from here," Castellano said, gazing at waterlogged clothes on the floor of the burned home. "I don't know what we can salvage from here."

A family of three who lived in the upstairs apartment were out of town at the time of the fire. They are now staying with relatives upstate, Castellano said.

The children's mother, Leah Castro, who is unemployed, lives next door to Sampra, who is on disability, family and friends said. Sampra is the children's guardian.

Sampra couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Castellano said she is just grateful no one was hurt.

"They're alive. As long as they're alive, who cares?" she said.