Firefighters battle blaze in Baldwin building, residents displaced, authorities say

A fire in a commercial building in Baldwin early Sunday displaced residents in the second-floor apartments, shut down three businesses, and injured a firefighter, authorities said.

The Baldwin Fire Department and several neighboring departments responded at about 1:30 a.m. to reports of heavy smoke at a two-story building on Grand Avenue, between Newton and Lorenz avenues, according to the Nassau County police news release.

About 100 firefighters extinguished the fire, which spread through the second floor and the cockloft, within an hour, according to Nassau County Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Bohdan Pilczak.

Nine people who lived in three upstairs apartments were displaced, according to Michael Parise, first assistant chief of the Baldwin Fire Department.

Quentin Brown, the owner of Q's Quality Cutz, a barbershop on the first floor, said the building is currently uninhabitable. Brown, who opened his shop there 20 years ago, said a neighboring tax preparation service and nutrition shop also had to close Sunday.

"It's unfortunate, but it's life, you know?" said Brown, who has seen a generation of Baldwin residents come through his shop from toddler to adulthood.

Brown said he and his five employees will cut hair for the time being at a neighboring salon that extended a helping hand Sunday.

"It was sad because I've been there so long," Brown said, looking over the wreckage. "It's become like my house. It's like watching your child get beat up."

The Red Cross assisted residents of the building, who could not return to their second-floor apartments. One firefighter was treated at the scene for "debris in their eye," according to Pilczak’s report.

The fire marshal's office and Nassau police arson and bomb squad are investigating, but "no criminality" was suspected, the police department said.