Firefighters battle Wantagh fire

An Oceanside fire truck was on its way through Wantagh to the Fire Service Academy in Bethpage Thursday night for a training session, officials said, when members saw billowing smoke a few blocks away.

The truck changed directions and arrived at the fully involved burning home on Oakland Avenue about 7:30 p.m., right before the first Wantagh fire fighters arrived.

Harry Loud, the public information officer for the Wantagh department said, "Everybody just hooked up to the hydrants and we all went to work."

Moments earlier, Gary Fujarski, a Nassau police officer on patrol, had arrived at the burning house and kicked in the door, Loud said. A woman on the first floor of the two-story cape building, was apparently calling police but Fujarski told her to get out immediately, Loud said. She left the house immediately and no residents were injured.

Much of the building was destroyed by the fire, which may have been accidentally started by a cigarette on the rear porch of the building, Loud said.

One firefighter was taken by ambulance to a hospital after complaining of chest pain, Loud said. Information concerning his condition and identity was not immediately made available.