Spontaneous combustion sparks fire in Seaford house recently occupied by 5 people, Nassau official says

Five Seaford residents were displaced on Saturday morning after "spontaneous combustion" sparked a fire that seriously damaged their new home, according to Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro.

The fire began at the two-story Lakeview Avenue home shortly after 7 a.m. on Saturday. About 40 firefighters from four departments responded to the emergency and were able to extinguish the flames within roughly 20 minutes.

No one was injured, according to Uttaro. He said the occupants were doing work at their new house when the rags they were using spontaneously combusted, causing the fire.

"The residents or occupants had just moved into the home recently," Uttaro told Newsday. "It was an accidental fire and the cause of the fire was oily rags from doing stain and polyurethane work in the house. So, a spontaneous combustion, which we warn people about a lot."

Spontaneous combustion "happens more often than people think," he said. 

The home did not have a working smoke detector. The five residents noticed the fire in time, which allowed them to escape unharmed.

"Nothing sounded. The people had just moved in this week into the house," Uttaro said. "Thankfully they were alerted to the fire and self evacuated but, again, we can’t stress enough — working smoke alarms are key to peoples’ survival in a house fire."

The Seaford Fire Department was the first to arrive on scene. It was joined by firefighters from the Massapequa, North Massapequa, and Wantagh fire departments, according to an email from Assistant Chief Nassau County Fire Marshal Bohdan Pilczak.

Uttaro said the house "was seriously damaged. I wouldn’t say it was destroyed, but there was serious damage." Hempstead’s building department "is on scene evaluating the extent of the damage and if the people would be able to get back in anytime soon," he added.

The Red Cross has been "notified for displaced residents," according to Pilczak’s email about the fire.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.