Christmas night fire leaves mom, tot homeless

A Christmas night fire caused by a lit candle falling onto a mattress in a Hempstead apartment left a mother and her 2-year-old child homeless but unhurt, Hempstead fire officials said.

The fire started about 8:10 p.m. in the second-floor apartment on Elk Street, said Karl E. Rugg, chief of department with the Hempstead Fire Department.

The woman didn't have electricity and was using the candle for light in a bedroom when it toppled over onto a mattress, Rugg said. The mattress caught on fire and the woman grabbed her child from a nearby crib and ran down the stairs and outside.

No one was injured and the fire, which was confined to the bedroom, was extinguished by 9:37 p.m., Rugg said. The woman and her child were referred to the Red Cross for housing, Rugg said.